US STOCKS-China's tariff blow weighs on Wall Street, Powell speech in focus

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* Indexes down: Dow 0.40%, S&P 0.43%, Nasdaq 0.56%
* China unveils retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods
* Powell's speech to start at 10:00 a.m. ET
* HP Inc falls after CEO exit, disappointing forecast
* Foot Locker slumps after quarterly results miss estimates

(Updates to open)
By Akanksha Rana and Medha Singh
Aug 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday after China
threatened to impose additional tariffs on $75 billion worth of
U.S. goods, ahead of a highly anticipated speech from Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
China's latest tariffs, which follow U.S. duties on $300
billion worth of Chinese goods, threaten to prolong an ongoing
trade war between the world's top two economies that has raised
concerns about slowing global growth.
China's commerce ministry said it would impose additional
tariffs on thousands of U.S. products, including agricultural
products, crude oil, small aircraft and cars. Tariffs on some
products would take effect on Sept. 1 and others on Dec. 15
U.S. Treasury bond yields slid following the development,
while interest sensitive banks .SPXBK fell 0.55%.
Tariff-sensitive technology stocks .SPLRCT dropped 0.54%,
pressured by a fall in chipmakers and Apple Inc AAPL.O . The
Philadelphia chip index .SOX slid 1.62%.
"Of course China is going to retaliate. That is part of the
trade war," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James,
in St. Petersburg, Florida.
"Trade issues are going to be important heading into the
Powell speech and he has to give some indication on how the
global environment is influencing the Fed."
Powell speaks at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) in Jackson Hole and
investors will be looking for confirmation that the central bank
will cut interest rate next month to sustain a decade long bull
run for Wall Street.
At 9:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 103.97 points, or 0.40%, at 26,148.27, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 12.45 points, or 0.43%, at 2,910.50. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 45.05 points, or 0.56%, at 7,946.34.
Energy sector .SPNY dropped 1.20%, the most among the S&P
sectors, as oil prices fell.
Defensive plays were in favor as utilities .SPLRCU was the
only major S&P higher, while and real estate .SPLRCR and
consumer staples .SPLRCS posted the smallest losses.
HP Inc HPQ.N slipped 6.8% after Chief Executive Officer
Dion Weisler stepped down and the PC maker forecast
fourth-quarter profit below analysts' estimates. The biggest gainer on the S&P was Salesforce.com Inc CRM.N
up 5.6%, after the cloud-based service provider forecast
third-quarter and full-year revenue above Wall Street estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.68-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 2.39-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 21 new 52-week highs and 13 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 11 new highs and 41 new lows.