(Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Friday after President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on Beijing over the coronavirus crisis, while business warnings from Amazon.com and big oil firms highlighted the pain inflicted by global lockdowns.
FILE PHOTO: The Wall Street sign is pictured at the New York Stock exchange (NYSE) in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 9, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
Trump’s threat brought attention back to the trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has kept global financial markets on tenterhooks for nearly two years.
“It will not be easy to repair corporate carnage after this perfect storm,” said Peter Cecchini, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
“The trade war mattered because the stress was not with the consumer this time; it was within companies’ balance sheets.”
The consumer discretionary subindex .SPLRCD slid 4.8%, after Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said it could post its first quarterly loss in five years as it was spending at least $4 billion in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The e-commerce giant’s shares tumbled 7.6%.
The energy index .SPNY fel