Stocks Opened Lower on China-U.S. Trade Tensions

U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday amid escalating tensions over trade between the U.S. and China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 335.26 points, or 1.34%, to 24,652.21. The S&P 500 shed 22.22 points, or 0.80%, to 2,751.53. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 67.52 points, or 0.87%, to 7,679.51.

Oil prices traded sharply lower Tuesday, with traders heading for the exit on worries escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China could hurt energy exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery slumped 89 cents, or 1.4%, to $64.96 a barrel. August Brent oil fell 47 cents, or 0.6%, to $74.87 a barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods and Beijing warned it would retaliate, in a rapid escalation of the trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies.

A surge of construction in the Midwest drove U.S. housing starts up 5 percent in May from the prior month. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million, the strongest pace since July 2007.

Amazon (AMZN) announced its new delivery initiative called “the Hub,” a “delivery solution” for people living in urban spaces. Similar to a large post-office box, the technology provides an on-premises locker for packages from Amazon and any other sender, helping customers avoid the dreaded “we missed you” notes from carriers or a stolen package.