Stocks Ended Mostly Lower on Trade Jitters

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower on Wednesday as trade jitters kept gains in check. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45.16 points, or 0.18%, to 25,583.75. The S&P 500 lost 0.75 point, or 0.03%, to 2,857.70. The Nasdaq Composite added 4.66 points, or 0.06%, to 7,888.33.

U.S. oil prices registered their steepest one-day drop in more than three weeks Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate futures for September delivery fell $2.23, or 3.2%, to $66.94 a barrel. Brent crude for October gave up $2.37, or 3.2%, to finish at $72.28 a barrel.

China is slapping additional tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion worth of U.S. imports from fuel and steel products to autos and medical equipment, the Chinese commerce ministry said, as the world’s largest economies escalated their trade dispute.

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc’s quarterly profit and revenue topped Wall Street estimates on Wednesday. Fox’s total revenue jumped 17.7 percent to $7.94 billion, comfortably above expectations of $7.56 billion. Net income attributable to shareholders increased to $920 million, from $476 million a year earlier.