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Dow Suffers Nauseating Slide as Jobs Data Expose Trade War Failure

Last Updated September 23, 2020 12:52 PM
Francois Aure
Last Updated September 23, 2020 12:52 PM

The Dow Jones suffered a nauseating pounding on Friday, as the index fell 253.38 points or 0.95% to knock its value down to 26,364.82.

Selling remains heavy after a Trump tariff threat  inspired a vicious 600-point Dow swing on Thursday and crushed stocks amid souring risk sentiment.

Friday’s jobs report  looks to have broken the Dow’s back with little to cheer about for market bulls.

Dow Losses Pile on Amid Less-Than-Comforting Jobs Data

Dow Jones, Stock Market
The Dow Jones felt the brunt of genuine risk-off trading after Friday’s US jobs report. | Source: Yahoo Finance

It was always going to be a volatile day with unemployment, non-farm payrolls, and consumer sentiment statistics leaving Wall Street awash in data. However, digging deeper, the prospect of higher trade tensions between China and the US is at the root of the Dow’s sell-off.

The politically sensitive data were frankly awful. All signs now point to a potential recession  in US manufacturing jobs (average hours worked dropped) and the trade balance missed expectations – again.

Trump’s core political stance is restoring balance to trade with China and boosting domestic manufacturing.  A nervous stock market is now expecting a further escalation in the trade war, along with tariffs on critical US household goods .

Confirming these bearish expectations for the Dow Jones, Iris Pang, an economist for ING in the Greater China area, laid out the risk-negative scenario  that is now likely to play heading into the 2020 US presidential election cycle.

“We believe China’s strategy in this trade war escalation will be to slow down the pace of negotiation and tit-for-tat retaliation. This could lengthen the process of retaliation until the upcoming US Presidential Election. It won’t have escaped the authorities in China’s attention that a full-blown trade war is unlikely to help President Trump’s chances in the election.”

Dow Stocks: Apple & Caterpillar Roasted, Boeing Resilient

Among the hardest hit Dow stocks  was Apple, shedding more than 2.8% in anticipation of more trouble in their Chinese dealings. Caterpillar was next, down 2.4%, now that their weak sales in China look set to continue.

Boeing was arguably the most interesting development. Trade war and tariff escalation typically hit the US aerospace manufacturer extremely hard, but its stock price actually rose 0.5% on Friday.

Three straight sizeable hits to the Dow Jones clearly demonstrate wavering risk sentiment. Factor in that easing expectations – which increased slightly after Friday’s jobs report – failed to boost stocks, and it’s clear that Wall Street is taking this dip very seriously indeed.

Click here for a real-time Dow Jones Industrial Average chart.