Investing.com - The Dow fell more than 500 points on Thursday as news of Apple lowering its revenue forecast increased investor concern that U.S.-Sino trade tensions are eating into company results.
The S&P 500 fell 45 points, or 1.84%, as of 10:24 AM ET (15:24 GMT), while the Dow decreased 511 points, or 2.19%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 147 points, or 2.18%.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell more than 9% after CEO Tim Cook said in a letter late Wednesday the company expects sales of $84 billion for the last quarter, down from earlier estimates of $89 billion to $93 billion. The lowered guidance is due to a steep decline in Chinese sales, as trade tensions have put pressure on China’s economy.
The news put a shadow over upcoming earnings results later in the month.
"This provides solid evidence of how slowing economic growth and a trade war make the best death cocktail for sentiment," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK.
Slowing growth in the manufacturing sector in the U.S. also rattled markets, as investors worry over slowing economic growth. The ISM manufacturing PMI index fell to 54.1 in December, compared to forecasts for a reading of 57.7.
Chipmakers were down, with Micron (NASDAQ:MU) slipping 5% and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) down 7.5%. IBM (NYSE:IBM) was off 1.7%. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 3%, while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) declined 2%. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) lost 3% and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) was down 1.2%, while JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) dipped 1.3% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) slipped 1.5%.
Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) skyrocketed 26% after Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) announced it was planning to buy the company for $74 billion. Bristol was down 14% after the news.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,290.25 a troy ounce and crude oil increased 0.7% to $46.88 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slumped 0.3% to 96.11.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.