Economic security

Dow sheds more than 1,100 points in two days as trade jitters rock Wall Street


Trade war fears wiped more than 1,100 points off the Dow in just two days. It was Wall Street's worst week in more than two years.

Investors are increasingly worried that President Trump's crackdown on China will trigger a fierce response that darkens the otherwise bright economic outlook.

The Dow dropped 425 points, or 1.8%, on Friday, sinking back into a "correction" — a decline of 10% from the all-time high in January. The Dow finished at its lowest point since November.

All three major indexes took their biggest weekly tumbles since January 2016.

The market failed to stage a rebound from Thursday's plunge, which erased 734 points from the Dow.

China vowed on Thursday that it would fight a potential trade war "until the end."

"We have this general freak-out. We don't know the next shoe to drop on trade," said Michael Block, chief strategist at Rhino Trading Partners.

Investors were further rattled when China's ambassador to the United States signaled that China could ease purchases of US bonds in response to Trump's tariffs. "We are looking at all options," Ambassador Cui Tiankaitold Bloomberg News.