NEW YORK (Reuters) - Trade-sensitive industrials dragged Wall Street lower on Tuesday as tensions over tariffs between the United States and its European trading partners went from simmer to boil and the IMF lowered its global growth outlook.
All three major U.S. stock indexes finished the session in the red, with the S&P 500 ending its eight-day rally.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose tariffs on $11 billion of European goods, raising tensions over aircraft subsidies that threaten to morph into a wider trade war.
“The European tariff thing caught people by surprise, just as we were working through the China (trade) issues,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trade disputes, along with Britain’s potentially messy exit from the European Union, led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut its global economic growth forecasts and warn that further cuts could follow.
“With the IMF ... you’re getting two data points that indicate that things may soften up over the next several months,” Tuz added. “It gives some people reason enough to take money off the table.”
“(But) we’re right on the cusp of earnings season which could change everything.”
First-quarter earnings season is set to begin in earnest, with Delta Airlines reporting on Wednesday and JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co results due on Friday, kicking off what analysts now expect to be the first quarter to show a year-on-year decline in profits since 2016.
January-March earnings for S&P 500 companies are now seen falling by 2.5% from last year, according to Refinitiv data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell
