Headlines like this cause skittishness! .... Aivars Lode
Stocks edged lower Friday, capping a tumultuous week where investors ricocheted between risky and safe assets as they reacted to the trade war and emerging currency fight between Washington and Beijing.
President Trump on Friday morning suggested a meeting with China on trade might be canceled, putting downward pressure on stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% Friday afternoon. The S&P 500 dropped 0.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.9%. After all the big swings of recent days, all three major indexes were set to close the week with modest drops less than 1%.
“We’re not ready to make a deal, but we’ll see what happens,” Mr. Trump told reporters Friday morning. “We will see whether or not China keeps our meeting in September.”
Markets around the world have swung this week after moves from China’s central bank triggered fears that the trade fight with the U.S. could spread to a new front in the foreign-exchange markets.
What began as a rout on Monday--with U.S. stocks suffering their worst one-day drop of the year--reversed course as Beijing didn’t take as aggressive a stance on weakening the yuan as some investors feared. The S&P 500 rebounded 1.9% on Thursday, before resuming its drop today.