Continued U.S.-China Trade Concerns Pushed Stocks Lower To End A Wild Week

To close out a wild week for stocks, uncertainties surrounding the possibility of a longer-term detente in the U.S.-China trade war seemed to outweigh a bit of optimism on the inflation-and-economic front after a Goldilocks jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 500 points to erase the year’s gains. The Nasdaq Composite breezed through the psychologically significant 7000 level to close at 6969, a 3% down move on the day, although it settled well off its recent low from last month. From a technical standpoint, today's close in the S&P 500, 2633, was exactly one point above the closing low on November 23. While some traders may see that as a positive sign, it might be little consolation for bulls on a day when the index was down more than 2% The week’s collapse in stocks and continued elevated volatility seemed to serve as reminders of the tectonic shift we’ve been seeing in stock market and fixed income valuations, but even the bears might have gotten surprised by the extent of this selloff. Meanwhile, for the bulls, buying the dip doesn’t seem to have worked. Amid the selling, technology shares haven’t been able to provide the upside buoyancy we saw earlier in the year as the overhang from the U.S.-China trade war seems to be too great. Tech giant Apple has also been plagued by worries about its iPhone sales. Meanwhile, the financial sector hasn’t been able to provide upside momentum as Treasury yields have pulled back. So at the moment it’s hard to see what might be the spark plug to get this sputtering engine revving again.