US Stock Market Today: Dow Jones Falls 100 Points, S&P 500 Slides On Cracks In China Trade Thaw

Wall Street opened lowered on Friday as trade tensions between the US and China escalated after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of violating a preliminary trade agreement.

The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average shed over 100 points or 0.3% to hold marginally above the 42,000-mark. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% and S&P 500 tanked 0.3%.

“China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. He, however, did not specify how China was not abiding by the agreement negotiated earlier this month in Switzerland.

All but two of the eleven sectoral indices on the S&P 500 were trading in red, with the sharpest decline in information technology and energy, with only consumer staples and utilities seeing gains.

The stock market also took note of inflation-adjusted US personal spending posting a muted 0.1% rise in April compared to 0.7% a month earlier. Separate data showed an almost 20% slump in imports, leading to a massive narrowing in the US merchandise-trade deficit in April.

Friday's decline in Wall Street could close out a big winning month, during which the S&P 500 added more than 5%, the Nasdaq surged 9.5% and Dow popped 3%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond was unchanged at 4.42%. US Treasuries are facing their first monthly loss this year, amid renewed uncertainty surrounding tariffs and increasing worries about the escalating levels of government debt.

The US dollar strengthened against major currencies except the yen. The dollar index gained 0.4% to 99.66. The British Pound fell 0.3% against the greenback and the euro lost 0.5%. Safe-haven demand led the Japanese currency to gain 0.2%

Oil prices declined after reports said OPEC+ is considering accelerating its production increases as it seeks to recoup lost market share. The international benchmark Brent crude slipped 0.6% to trade below $64 a barrel.

Spot gold fell 0.7% to $3,293.38 an ounce.