US stocks sag amid trade war worries

New York: Wall Street stocks dropped early Friday, continuing to retreat for a third session amid revived trade war worries.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 25,003.57, down 0.7 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.5 percent to 2,692.02, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.7 percent to 7,240.23.

The White House signaled Thursday that it was still far from reaching a trade agreement with China ahead of a March 1 deadline for new tariff measures to come into effect.

The angst over trade coincides with expectations for a pullback in stocks following a buoyant January that led to the Dow’s best performance in that month in 30 years.

Shares of Mattel surged nearly 25 percent following an unexpected fourth-quarter profit following cost-cutting efforts and strong sales for Barbie and Hot Wheels toys.

Shares of large technology companies were under pressure, with Amazon down 2.4 percent, Netflix off 1.3 percent and Google parent Alphabet down 1.0 percent.

[source_without_link]AFP[/source_without_link]