Stocks have been down since the open after the Trump administration published a new blacklist of Chinese companies, prompting China to hint about possible retaliation, ahead of trade talks that are scheduled to start later this week. Adding to the market's downbeat sentiment are reports that Brexit talks are close to breaking down in Europe.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the NFIB small business optimism index dropped 1.3% to 101.8 in September. The Producer Prices Index headline and core figures both dropped 0.3% in September.
In Europe, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German chancellor Angela Merkel held a call about the proposals he put forward to the EU, after which European Council President Donald Tusk sent a public tweet to Johnson, warning him that "the future of Europe and the UK" was at stake.
TOP NEWS: Just days before high-level trade talks are set to resume in Washington, the U.S. has added 28 Chinese entities to an export blacklist, citing their role in Beijing's repression of Muslim minorities in northwest China, according to various media reports. Video-surveillance and facial-recognition giants Hikvision, Megvii Technology and SenseTime Group have been added to the "entity list" alongside Huawei, which was added in May. Huawei suppliers include Micron Technology (MU) and Western Digital (WDC), while makers of optical components, including Oclaro (OCLR), Acacia Communications (ACIA), NeoPhotonics (NPTN), and Lumentum (LITE), have previously reacted negatively to headlines regarding U.S. enforcement actions and allegations against China's Huawei. Ambarella (AMBA), which has two of its customers on the list, has seen its shares slide over 10% following the reports.
Shares of Boeing (BA) are down 1% near noon after The Wall Street Journal reported that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency recently told senior U.S. regulators it wasn't satisfied that FAA and Boeing officials had adequately demonstrated the safety of reconfigured MAX flight-control computers. Also, a union of Southwest Airlines (LUV) pilots announced last night that it has filed a lawsuit against Boeing for "deliberately misleading the organization and its pilots about the 737 MAX aircraft." Separately, Boeing reported today that it has has delivered 302 aircraft year-to-date, including 113 787 aircraft.
Sony's (SNE) Interactive Entertainment unit confirmed via a blog post that the company's next-generation game console will be called PlayStation 5 and will be launching in time for Holiday 2020.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Allegiance Bancshares (ABTX), which rose 7% after being named to join the S&P 600. Also higher was Hawaiian Holdings (HA), which gained 6% after reporting September traffic metrics.
Among the notable losers was Qiagen (QGEN), which fell 21% after announcing the departure of CEO Peer Schatz, forming a new partnership with Illumina (ILMN), and providing preliminary earnings per share results for the third quarter. Also lower was Puma Biotechnology (PBYI), which declined 21% after Goldman Sachs analyst Paul Choi downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral and cut his price target on the shares to $8 from $24.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 279.60, or 1.06%, to 26,198.42, the Nasdaq was down 98.66, or 1.24%, to 7,857.63, and the S&P 500 was down 36.01, or 1.23%, to 2,902.78.
Boeing
-5.86 (-1.56%)
Ambarella
-6.185 (-10.80%)
Symbol now SONY
-0.785 (-1.35%)
Micron
-1.34 (-3.03%)
Western Digital
-2.26 (-3.90%)
Bought by LITE
+ (+0.00%)
Acacia Communications
-0.7 (-1.07%)
NeoPhotonics
-0.045 (-0.75%)
Lumentum
-0.89 (-1.68%)
Allegiance Bancshares
+2.18 (+6.87%)
Hawaiian Holdings
+1.49 (+5.91%)
Qiagen
-6.58 (-20.52%)
Illumina
-10.94 (-3.63%)
Puma Biotechnology
-2.1 (-20.83%)