Shares of Apple and semiconductor stocks slid on Friday after President Donald Trump said U.S. companies should “immediately start looking for an alternative” to their operations in China.
Shares of Apple ended the day down 4.6%, while the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF declined 4.1%. Among the chip companies, Qualcomm slid 4.7%, Nvidia lost 5.2%, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 7.4%, Micron fell roughly 4% and Broadcom slid 5.3%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 2.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 2.3% and the S&P 500 fell 2.5%.
Trump’s comments on Friday mark the latest fallout in the trade war between the U.S. and China.
….better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Trump’s tweet came after China on Friday pledged to levy tariffs on $75 billion more of U.S. goods, including autos.
MacDailyNews Note: Late last night, President Trump referenced the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in a followup tweet:
For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019
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