Stocks slip as Turkey escalates feud with US

U.S. stocks tumbled Wednesday with the Dow falling by triple digits as traders worried about the escalating trade feud between the U.S. and Turkey, while shrugging off the latest positive U.S. economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 137.51 points, or 0.54 percent, to 25,162.41. The S&P 500 was down 21.59 points, closing at 2,818.37. The Nasdaq Composite fell 96.78 points, or 1.23 percent, to 7,774.12.

All major indexes were down and on a percentage basis the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down the most, 1.34 percent -- its third decline in the last four days -- in afternoon trading.

Crude oil prices plunged 3 percent to $65.03 after a report that U.S. oil stockpiles are much larger than expected. The fall in oil prices also weighed on the stock market.

Stateside, investors had a batch of economic data to contend with. Retail sales rose 0.5 percent in July, well above the 0.1 percent increase economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting. Also, second-quarter U.S. productivity climbed 2.9 percent. U.S. business inventories increased 0.1 percent in July while home builider sentiment came in at 67 fo August, matching forecasts.

The financial crisis in Turkey remains in focus after the country reportedly raised tariffs on U.S. goods including alcoholic beverages, passenger cars, tobacco, cosmetics, rice and coal.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	44782	-128.65	-0.29%
SP500	S&P 500	6047.15	+14.77	+0.24%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	19403.947849	+185.78	+0.97%

This was retaliation against the U.S. for the initial sanctions placed against Turkey for not freeing American pastor Andrew Brunson who faces terrorism charges and a prison sentence.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission sent subpoenas to Tesla after CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he had funding to take the company private.

Stocks finished higher Tuesday as the lira weakened slightly following its recent tumble.

Commodities were mostly lower, feeling the pressure of a rising U.S. dollar. Gold closed at a 1-1/2 year low.

FOX Business’ Ken Martin contributed to this article.