Stocks Fall, Dow Loses 200 Points After Retail Sales Plunge Record 16.4%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, around 200 points, at Friday’s open, while the S&P 500 lost 0.9% and the Nasdaq was down 1%.

U.S. monthly retail sales declined a record 16.4% in April—more than the 12.3% expected, as the coronavirus took a toll on consumer spending.

That followed the latest report from the Labor Department on Thursday, which showed another 3 million people filed for unemployment benefits—bringing the total number of coronavirus job losses over the last two months to 36 million.

Stocks also fell on news of re-escalating trade tensions with China: The Trump administration on Friday moved to block shipments of semiconductors from global chipmakers to Huawei Technologies.

China insider Hu Xiijin, editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times, responded via Twitter on Friday, saying that if the U.S. takes further action to block Huawei, China could retaliate by activating iits “unreliable entity list.” 

That would allow China to “restrict or investigate” U.S. companies like Apple, Qualcomm and Cisco as well as suspend purchases of Boeing airplanes.