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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors piled into gold, the safe-haven yen and bonds on Monday over nagging concerns about a prolonged U.S.-China trade war and global growth, while Argentina’s peso plunged 27% after voters handed its president an election mauling.

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FILE PHOTO: A Japan Yen note is seen in this illustration photo taken June 1, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration

The yen rose to its highest in more than a year and a half versus the dollar on the prospect the Japanese currency could gain more in the case of a drawn-out U.S.-Sino trade conflict.

Concerns that a trade deal would not be reached before the 2020 U.S. presidential election grew after Goldman Sachs on Sunday became the latest to cut its U.S. growth outlook and warn a trade stand-off would fester past the election.

U.S. stocks fell, following a decline in Europe, keeping a gauge of global equity performance lower. Stocks in China rallied more than 1% after the yuan avoided further drama after Chinese authorities allowed the yuan to slip below the seven-per-dollar level last week.

Stocks in the near term lack a catalyst either from company earnings, the Federal Reserve or a trade deal, said Rahul Shah, chief executive of Ideal Asset Management in New York.

“The promise of a trade deal coming this year, I think that’s becoming less and less likely,” Shah said. “That does set up the market possibly for a correction at this point,” he said.

Stocks could dip between 5% to 10% but lead long-term investors to enter the market as valuations fall, he said.

MSCI’s gauge of stock performance in 47 countries fell 0.46% while Wall Street also fell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 194.22 points, or 0.74%, to 26,093.22. The S&P 500 lost

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