Investing.com - The S&P 500 closed lower on Monday as investors braced for an escalation in trade tensions between the United States and China, while a decline in tech also weighed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.35%. The S&P 500 fell 0.56%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.43%.
Investors fled U.S. stocks, bracing for the impact of a deeper rift in U.S.-China trade relations, which could dent global growth, as both countries get ready to fire another volley of trade tariffs against in each other.
President Donald Trump said an announcement on U.S.-China trade will be coming after the close on Monday. "We can't do that anymore," Trump claimed, saying the U.S. deficit was too big.
The latest round of tariffs from U.S. would impose a 10% levy on an additional $200 billion in Chinese goods.
Beijing has reportedly vowed to hit back against any new tariffs imposed by the United States, throwing into doubt the prospect of renewed trade negotiations.
Trade-sensitive names like Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), which have significant international exposure, ended the day mixed, as the latter deftly sidestepped trade tensions after reporting a 23% jump in global retail sales for the three months ended August 2018.
Beyond trade, a wave of selling pressure emerged in tech, driven by a slump in shares of Apple and Amazon.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) dropped 3% as The Wall Street Journal reported that the e-commerce giant is investigating suspected data leaks and bribes among employees. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell nearly 3% as Rosenblatt Securities reportedly said pre-orders for Apple's iPhone XS and Max were weaker than the X model.
"We believe iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max preorders to be weaker compared to the iPhone X preorders, which we had estimated last year to be about 12 million in the first three days, with lead times of 3-5 weeks," Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang said in a note to clients Monday.
Apple received a modicum of relief, however, amid reports the Apple Watch and AirPods would be spared from latest China tariffs.
Energy, meanwhile, rose modestly, shrugging off fears that rising trade war tensions would hurt global crude demand.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures for November delivery fell 19 cents to trade at $68.58 a barrel.
In corporate news, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) said it was "closely watching" the market for drinks infused with cannabidiol, or CBD, the chemical in marijuana believed to relieve pain and anxiety, fuelling expectations the soft-drink giant could make a move into the red-hot cannabis market.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Mosaic (NYSE:MOS), NiSource (NYSE:NI) and Kroger (NYSE:KR) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Abiomed (NASDAQ:ABMD), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.