Investing.com – Wall Street slumped on Thursday, as investors fear increased regulation after the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) privacy data leak and Trump’s import tariffs on China increased fears of a global trade war.
The S&P 500 was down 27 points or 1.01% to 2,684.45as of 9:36 AM ET (13:36 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased 272 points or 1.10% to 24,409.81, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell 80 points or 1.09% to 7,265.07.
Trump is expected to announce tariffs targeting $60 billion in Chinese imports aimed at curbing theft of U.S. technology, rising fears of a global trade war. He is expected to sign an order "targeting China's economic aggression" at 12:30PM ET (16:30 GMT), which will be imposed under Section 301 of the 1974 U.S. Trade Act.
Investors were also digesting the Federal Reserve interest rate hike of 25 basis points on Wednesday, which was expected. Hawkish tones from Fed Chair Jerome Powell left markets in the red on Wednesday, with three more rate hikes expected this year.
Facebook continued to be among the biggest losers, falling 2.19% amid a data breach scandal that has shook the company. The social media giant has lost nearly $60 million off its market value since news that Cambridge Analytica used data from over 50 million users to target political ads without their knowledge.
Meanwhile Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 0.86% while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) decreased 1.14% and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) dipped 1.49%. Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) fell 3.17% while Square (NYSE:SQ) slumped 1.93%.
Elsewhere Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) rose 6.95% while Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ:OMER) surged 4.50%.
In Europe stocks were mostly down. In Germany the DAX fell 229 points or 1.87% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 96 points or 1.85% and in London the FTSE 100 was down 102 points or 1.45%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 slipped 157 points or 1.64% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched down 63 points or 1.86%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.66% to $1,330.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures were down 1.12% to $64.44 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.15 to 89.41.