Wall Street extends fall as Trump’s comment amplifies trade fears

Wall Street’s main indexes added to losses on Friday after President Donald Trump said he was not going to make a deal with China for now, exacerbating fears that the U.S.-China trade stand-off would aggravate the global economic slowdown.

Trump’s remark followed a report that said Washington was delaying a decision to allow some trade between U.S. firms and China’s telecom equipment maker Huawei again.

That pressured the shares of chipmakers and other tariff-sensitive technology companies. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index fell 1.8% and Apple Inc slipped 1.1%.

“Until we get some sort of tangible answers to what the (Trump) administration is going to do with China, this is going to be a overhang on the market, creating plenty of sharp swings,” said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Political uncertainty in Italy, euro zone’s third-largest economy, and a surprise contraction in Britain’s economy as it gears up to leave the European Union in October added to market worries.

More investors sought the safety of U.S. government bonds, which pushed the U.S. Treasury yields lower.

Friday’s losses in U.S. stocks come a day after they rose to record their best one-day percentage gain in two months in a turbulent week dominated by a symbolic drop in China’s currency.

At 10:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 161.38 points, or 0.61%, at 26,216.81, the S&P 500 was down 20.83 points, or 0.71%, at 2,917.26. The Nasdaq Composite was down 75.14 points, or 0.93%, at 7,964.02.

Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with technology sector which bore the brunt of this week’s selloff, slipping the most.

With investors turning wary of risk, defensive sectors, including utilities and real estate outperformed this week.

Among stocks, Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) shed 6.9% after the ride-hailing company reported a record $5.2 billion loss and revenue that fell short of Wall Street targets.

DXC Technology (DXC.N) tumbled 31.4% after the IT and consulting services provider cut its full-year profit and revenue forecast.

Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR.O) shares plunged 33.1% after the drug developer flagged manufacturing issues with its experimental cancer drug bempeg.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.27-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.99-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 38 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 44 new highs and 80 new lows.