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* U.S.-China trade spat back in spotlight
* Amazon slides as it sees possible Q2 loss
* U.S. manufacturing skids to 11-year low in April
* Indexes down: Dow 2.37%, S&P 500 2.85%, Nasdaq 3.32%
(Adds comments, updates prices throghout)
By C Nivedita and Shreyashi Sanyal
May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday after President
Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on Beijing over
the coronavirus crisis, while business warnings from Amazon.com
and big oil firms highlighted the pain inflicted by global
lockdowns.
Trump's threat brought attention back to the trade war
between the world's two largest economies that has kept global
financial markets on tenterhooks for nearly two years.
"It will not be easy to repair corporate carnage after this
perfect storm," said Peter Cecchini, chief market strategist at
Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
"The trade war mattered because the stress was not with the
consumer this time; it was within companies' balance sheets."
The consumer discretionary subindex .SPLRCD slid 4.8%,
after Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O said it could post its first
quarterly loss in five years as it was spending at least $4
billion in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The e-commerce
giant's shares tumbled 7.6%. The energy index .SPNY fell 5.8% as big oil firms Exxon
Mobil XOM.N and Chevron Corp CVX.N said they are slamming
the brakes on U.S. shale oil production, hurt by crashing oil
prices. Apple Inc AAPL.O dipped 0.2% after Chief Executive Officer
Tim Cook said it was impossible to forecast overall results for
the current quarter because of uncertainty created by the virus.
The S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT shed 2.3%, led by
declines in trade-sensitive chip stocks. The Philadelphia
Semiconductor index .SOX fell 5.1%.
With nearly half of the S&P 500 companies having reported
results so far, analysts expect a 12.7% fall in profits for the
first quarter and an even sharper decline of 37.8% for the
current quarter.
Still, aggressive stimulus measures and hopes of reopening
the economy from virus-induced curbs have helped the S&P 500
index .SPX post its best month in 33 years in April. The
benchmark index is now nearly 20% away from reclaiming a record
high hit in February.
At 12:22 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 576.41 points, or 2.37%, at 23,769.31, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 83.03 points, or 2.85%, at 2,829.40 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 294.86 points, or 3.32%, at 8,594.69.
U.S. manufacturing activity plunged to an 11-year low in
April, supporting analysts' views the economy was sinking deeper
into recession. However, the Institute for Supply Management's
(ISM) index reading of 41.5 last month was a smaller than the
expected drop to 36.9. "It almost seems like the market has taken a vacation from
looking at the economic data because of likely all the stimulus
and the forward-looking thought of the economy reopening," said
Matt Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock
Investment Management in Boston.
United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL.O slipped 9.6% after
posting a first-quarter loss of $1.7 billion. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 7.17-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 6.36-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and two new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 14 new highs and eight new lows.