US STOCKS-Wall St sinks as Trump hints at delay in trade deal with China

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* Trump says no deadline for China deal
* Main indexes set for worst day in nearly two months
* Trade-sensitive chip index hits over one-month low
* Indexes fall: Dow 1.58%, S&P 1.16%, Nasdaq 1.24%

(Changes comment, updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Dec 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street fell more than 1% and the
benchmark S&P 500 hit a near one-month low on Tuesday, as
comments from President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross stoked fears of a significant delay in resolving a
trade dispute with China.
Speaking to reporters in London where Trump was attending a
meeting of NATO leaders, he raised the possibility of the trade
deal being delayed until after the U.S. presidential elections
in November 2020. Ross told CNBC that planned tariffs on Chinese imports will
be imposed on Dec. 15 unless there is some real reason to
postpone, such as substantive progress in talks. Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading lower,
with tech heavyweights Apple Inc AAPL.O and Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O weighing the most.
The trade-sensitive Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX
dropped 2.4% to hit an over one-month low.
Tuesday's declines added to the pullback in the previous
session, from record highs hit last week, on hopes that the two
sides will hammer out a "phase one" deal soon, and signaled a
rough start to the month.
"This is sort of a last-minute negotiation tactic," said
Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist and senior portfolio
manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
"If the Dec. 15 tariffs go into effect, then I think people
start thinking that this could have additional ramifications on
a 'phase-one' ever getting done."
The S&P 500 is still up about 23% this year, helped by
interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, even as conflicting
headlines on trade have caused some volatility.
At 11:31 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 438.25 points, or 1.58%, at 27,344.79, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 36.21 points, or 1.16%, at 3,077.66 and the
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 106.03 points, or 1.24%, at
8,461.96.
Shares of Audentes Therapeutics Inc BOLD.O more than
doubled in value after Japan's Astellas Pharma Inc 4503.T said
it would buy the U.S. drugmaker for about $3 billion in cash.
AK Steel Holding Corp AKS.N rose 5% after miner Cleveland
Cliffs Inc CLF.N agreed to buy the steel maker for about $1.1
billion in an all-stock deal. Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs slumped
11.4%. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.45-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.34-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and four new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 17 new highs and 53 new lows.