Investing.com – Wall Street opened mixed on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve and threatened China with fresh tariffs.
The S&P 500 lost one point, or 0.05%, to 2,803.05 as of 9:43 AM ET (13:43 GMT), while the Dow decreased 32 points, or 0.13%, to 25,032.04 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite was up 12 points, or 0.16%, to 7,837.45.
Investors were rattled by continued trade war rhetoric.
Trump said in an interview on CNBC that he is ready to impose tariffs on $500 billion worth of Chinese goods to the U.S. if China does not back down on its trade policies.
“I’m not doing this for politics, I’m doing this to do the right thing for our country” he said on CNBC’s "Squawk Box." “We have been ripped off by China for a long time.”
In another statement, Trump criticized the Fed for increasing interest rates.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, rising 2.74% after reporting higher-than-expected earnings. Honeywell International (NYSE:HON) increased 2.91% after its financial report beat analysts’ forecasts, while eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) rose 1.50%.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) slumped 2.80% despite its earnings coming in higher than expected, while Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) fell 1.04% and footwear firm Skechers (NYSE:SKX) slumped 26.30% after an earnings and guidance miss.
In Europe, stocks were down. Germany’s DAX slumped 198 points, or 1.57%, while in France the CAC 40 decreased 56 points, or 1.03%, and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 31 points, or 0.41%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 29 points, or 0.85%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 45 points, or 0.46%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.46% to $1,229.60 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures decreased 0.06% to $68.20 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slumped 0.67% to 94.34.