Dow drops 700 points as Amazon tumbles, trade war fears rise

April 2, 2018 01:59 PM

U.S. stocks tumbled Monday as President Donald Trump continued his criticism of Amazon, sending those in the technology and consumer discretionary sectors lower. The selling also comes ahead of the Trump administration's plan to unveil this week the list of Chinese imports targeted for US tariffs. The list of $50 billion to $60 billion worth of annual imports is expected to target "largely high-technology" products.

The Dow dropped more than 700 points on Monday, and the Nasdaq plunged 3%. The S&P 500 hit its low for the year and was on track for its lowest close since November. The sell-off left all three major indexes in the red for 2018.

Trump once again accused Amazon of taking advantage of the U.S. Postal Service, and he suggested that Amazon does not pay its fair share of tax. In fact, Amazon pays the same lower rate that the post office charges other bulk shippers, and it collects sales tax in every state that charges it. Amazon does not collect sales tax on purchases made from third-party vendors.

The sell-off on the first day of the second quarter came after President Trump once again attacked Amazon on Twitter. Amazon (AMZN), one of the biggest drivers of the 2017 market rally, tumbled 5%, wiping out more than $37 billion of its market value.

Amazon wasn't the only tech stock in trouble. Tesla (TSLA), Netflix (NFLX) and Cisco (CSCO) all dropped by at least 4%. Intel (INTC) plunged 8% on a Bloomberg News report that Apple plans to switch to its own chips. Almost every stock in the Nasdaq 100 lost ground.

The Nasdaq has plunged more than 10% from its all-time high on March 12.

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