The four day rally has ended and, if you look at the chart, it is plain to see that the crash started right after the announcement of another $200 billion dollars in tariffs against China.  This negated even the progress that was being made in trade talks with Canada.  All three indexes fell, the Dow by 137 points.  On the plus side, Apple reached still another record high and today Amazon passed the $2,000 dollar mark putting it well on the path to becoming the second company in history to reach the trillion dollar mark in market value.  The Fed’s inflation gauge, the PCE price index, posted a 2 percent increase, hitting the bank’s target and signaling the continuing likelihood of additional rate hikes this year.  Being late August, volume remains below average at just barely under 6 billion, and just barely below average. 

thu  AUGUST 30, 2018 / 4:42 pm 

Wall St. rally ends as risk-selling grows on rising tariff fears

Stephen Culp

DJ:  25,986.92  -137.65       NAS:  8,088.36  -21.32        S&P:  2,901.13  -12.91      8/30

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended their four-day winning streak on Thursday as risk reduction ahead of the long holiday weekend accelerated on growing trade anxieties.  The broad-based sell-off steepened in mid-afternoon following a Bloomberg report that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to impose proposed tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports as early as next week, sooner than many expected. 

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, a gauge of investor expectations for near-term volatility, rose to a near two-week high in a low-volume, pre-holiday session, closing at 13.53.   “When you have low volume, it’s harder for the market to absorb strong buying or selling pressure,” said Shawn Cruz, manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade in Jersey City, New Jersey. “We still have (trade) headlines coming out on a daily basis.”

The Bloomberg report coincided with continuing efforts by Canada and the United States to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ahead of a Friday deadline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 137.65 points, or 0.53 percent, to 25,986.92, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 12.91 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,901.13 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 21.32 points, or 0.26 percent, to 8,088.36.  Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, only utilities .SPLRCU advanced. 

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) shares closed at a record high, rising 0.9 percent following news that it would unveil its latest iPhones on Sept. 12.  Amazon.com (AMZN.O) stock rose 0.2 percent, closing above $2,000 for the first time and edging the company closer to becoming the second U.S. company after Apple to reach $1 trillion in market value.  Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N) shares dipped 2.1 percent after it announced plans to sell its international and fresh refrigerated-foods units and left open the possibility of putting the whole company up for sale.

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co (ANF.N) plunged 17.2 percent after the apparel retailer missed quarterly same-store sales estimates.  Discount retailers Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR.O) and Dollar General Corp (DG.N) were down 15.5 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively, after both gave disappointing profit outlooks on margin worries. 

In economic news, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the core PCE price index, posted a 2 percent year-on-year increase, hitting the central bank’s target and boosting the likelihood of additional rate hikes this year.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.84-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.36-to-1 ratio favored decliners.  The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 103 new highs and 39 new lows. 

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 5.99 billion shares, compared with the 6.09 billion average over the last 20 trading days.