NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks ended near flat on Wednesday as the United States and China continued to spar over trade policy and as Tesla pulled back following a surprise go-private proposal from its chief.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2 percent to 25,583.75.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1 percent to 2,857.70, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 percent at 7,888.33.
China said it would impose 25 percent tariffs on a further $16 billion of US goods starting on August 23, making good on its promise to retaliate against new American levies announced late Tuesday on $16 billion in goods set to take effect the same day.
Analysts said markets were also consolidating recent gains and that trading volumes were low, with many traders on holiday.
“The market is looking for direction after earnings season,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments. “It’s normal to see a pause.”
One day after Chief Executive Elon Musk stirred investors with a surprise proposal to take Tesla Motors private, shares of the electric automaker fell 2.4 percent as some analysts expressed skepticism.
Snapchat parent Snap was another weak stock, falling 6.7 percent after the company reported a drop in daily active users.
Among other companies reporting earnings, Dow member Disney fell 2.2 percent, while CVS Health gained 4.1 percent.
Leading petroleum producers such as ExxonMobil and Chevron fell on a pullback in oil prices.
Source: Brecorder
