Stocks lower following latest tariff threat

U.S. stocks were lower Monday as the Trump administration prepared to announce new tariffs on as much as $200 billion of Chinese imported goods, a senior administration official told Reuters.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 92.55 points, or 0.35 percent, to 26,062.12. The S&P 500 was down 16.18 points, closing at 2,888.80. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 114..5 points, or 1.43 percent, to 7,895.79.

The administration said late Monday it will impose tariffs of around 10 percent on $200 billion in Chinese goods. The levies will rise to 25 percent in 2019.

“With China threatening to cozy up with Russia and the EU if Trump continues with this hostile trade approach, it will be interesting to see how the White House responds as lawmaker opposition may grow,” said Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst at Oanda. “Trump clearly thought this would be a straightforward monetary fight and may have been caught off guard by the willingness to use alternative tactics to fight back.”

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	37768.28	-692.64	-1.80%
SP500	S&P 500	4994.64	-76.99	-1.52%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	15394.323341	-318.43	-2.03%

The markets are also examining the news coming out of the southeast U.S. and the aftermath of Florence, the storm that made landfall Friday as a category 1 hurricane and is responsible for up to 17 deaths.

As Florence pushed further inland through the weekend, flash flood watches were posted in Virginia and southern West Virginia. The National Weather Service has issued the watch through Monday evening in several West Virginia counties.

A reading on New York’s manufacturing sector was released Monday morning. It fell 7 points to 19 in September.

FedEx and Oracle reported earnings after the bell.