Wall Street slides on geopolitical, recession fears
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Rate-sensitive financials weigh on S&P 500, Dow
Geopolitical tensions drive flight to safe-heaven assets
All 11 major S&P sectors lower
Amgen up after winning U.S. patent battle over arthritis drug
Indexes down: Dow 1.17%, S&P 1.06%, Nasdaq 1.00%
Updates to late afternoon, changes dateline, byline
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped in a broad sell-off on Monday as rising geopolitical tensions spooked investors away from equities and the extended U.S.-China trade war stoked fears of impending global recession.
All three major U.S. stock indexes started the week in the red, with few earnings reports and no economic data to soothe market jitters over protests in Hong Kong, the rejection of Argentine President Mauricio Macri's economic agenda in primary elections, and a tariff dispute that has beleaguered markets for months.
"It's the end of summer so a lot of market players aren't on the job," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama. "It happens seemingly every August where we have events that move the market out of proportion to the events."
Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N said on Sunday that its economists see recessionary risks increasing as the trade war between the world's two largest economies drags on, and no longer expect a resolution before the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The move away from risk sent gold prices higher and U.S. Treasury yields lower.
"It's a flight to safety given the global situation, from Hong Kong to Strait of Hormuz," Hellwig added.
Data on inflation, housing starts and retail sales are due later in the week, and will be scrutinized by market participants for signs of economic softening.
"Consumer confidence has held up well so we'll see where the rubber meets the road with retail sales," said Hellwig.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 308.75 points, or 1.17%, to 25,978.69, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 30.85 points, or 1.06%, to 2,887.8 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 79.90 points, or 1%, to 7,879.24.
All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 were in the red, with financials .SPSY, energy .SPNY and materials .SPLRCM suffering the largest percentage losses.
Second-quarter reporting season is approaching the finish line, with 452 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 73.5% have beaten consensus estimates.
Looking ahead to the third quarter, there have been 58 negative pre-announcements compared with 19 positive, resulting in a 3.1 negative-positive ratio, higher than 2.7 average since 1997.
Streaming platform Roku Inc ROKU.O gained 6.2% after a research note from Needham picked the stock over larger rival Netflix Inc NFLX.O.
Shares of Amgen Inc AMGN.O were up 4.5% following a court ruling that upheld two patents relating to its drug Enbrel.
Coach owner Tapestry Inc TPR.N and Versace owner Capri CPRI.N dropped 4.1% and 4.3%, respectively, after Chinese social media took the companies to talks for selling T-shirts that showed Chinese-controlled territories of Hong Kong and Macau as countries.
Media companies CBS Corp CBS.N and Viacom Inc VIAB.O are in the final stages of negotiating an all-stock merger that values Viacom at a discount to its closing price on Friday, sending Viacom shares down 4.5%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.36-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.98-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and 20 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 38 new highs and 138 new lows.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp Editing by Nick Zieminski)
((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
