Stocks sell off as trade war fears escalate

Friday,   23-Mar-2018   04:13 PM (IST)

Trump’s tariff announcement led to a sharp selloff on Wall Street Thursday that quickly spread to Asian stocks as investors fretted than a standoff between the U.S. and China could impact global trade.Miners stocks were particularly hard hit, while Australia’s stock exchange slumped 2% over concerns of the impact on its biggest export, iron ore. Japan’s Nikkei led losses in Asia, slumping around 4.7%, while China’s Shanghai Composite closed down 3.4%.European shares fell on Friday with tech, basic resources stocks and banks bearing the brunt of a wide sell-off triggered by worries that U.S. tariffs on imports from China could escalate into a fully-blown trade war.U.S. futures also pointed to further losses at the open on Wall Street.The blue-chip Dow futures fell 189 points, or 0.79%, S&P 500 futures lost 16 points, or 0.60%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slid 72 points, or 1.06%.