Monday's Stock Market Close: Dow, Nasdaq Lose 1% On Growing Trade Tensions

U.S. equities plunged on new trade tensions as President Trump reimposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Brazil and Argentina and little evidence of progress in trade talks with China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 1%, sinking 268 points to 27,783 while the Nasdaq Composite lost 97 points to 8,567 and the S&P 500 gave up 27 points to 3,113.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 2.47 billion shares with 846 issues advancing, 61 setting new highs, and 2,112 declining, 44 setting new lows.

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (KOD), Asian Pharmaceuticals Ltd. ADR (ASLN) and NF Energy Saving Corp. (BIMI) were the biggest gainers.

Trump reimposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina, accusing the two South American countries of devaluing their currencies.

The U.S. has imported about 3.8 million metric tons of steel from Brazil so far this year – or about 3.5% of the 110 million tons of that the U.S. consumes annually, making Brazil the second biggest exporter of steel to America. Argentina is one of the 10 largest exporters of aluminum to the U.S.

Trump also is angered that Brazil and Argentina have stepped up to fill Chinese soybean orders as the U.S.-China trade war drags on.

The action came as the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index slipped to 48.1 in November from 48.3 in October, suggesting the business climate is getting worse. Economists had expected the index to rise to 49.2. November marked the fourth consecutive month that the figure was below 50, which suggests business contraction.

New orders dropped to 47.2, from October's figure of 49.1. Inventories were at 45.5, down 3.4 points from October.

“Global trade remains the most significant cross-industry issue,” said Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute’s manufacturing business survey committee.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said scheduled tariffs will go into effect against China Dec. 15 if no phase one trade agreement is in place.

“If nothing happens between now and then, the president has made quite clear he’ll put the tariffs in – the increased tariffs," he told Fox Business Network.

On global markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.37% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.01% and China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.02%

European markets all closed lower with the FTSE 100 down 0.82% while Germany's DAX plunged 2.05% and France's CAC 40 dropped 2.01%.

Crude oil futures jumped 1.43% to $55.97 per barrel and Brent crude was flat at $60.92. Gold futures fell 0.26% to $1,468.90 an ounce.

The euro was up 0.52% to $1.076 while the pound sterling rose edged up 0.02% at $1.2934.

The 10-year Treasury note rose 0.045% to yield 1.828% while the 30-year note rose 0.072% to yield 2.274%.