WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With China announcing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., stocks are likely to come under pressure in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the Dow futures down by 104 points.
The downward momentum on Wall Street comes after the Chinese Finance Ministry announced plans to impose new tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. imports.
The new levies include 5 percent tariffs on U.S. soybeans and crude oil imports, which are scheduled to take effect on September 1st.
The move by China comes in response to President Donald Trump's plan to impose a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
China blamed the U.S. for the continuous escalation of U.S.-China trade frictions, accusing the U.S. of seriously threatening the multilateral trading system and the principle of free trade.
Shortly after the start of trading, the spotlight is likely to shift to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who is due to speak at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.
Powell's remarks about the challenges for monetary policy will be closely watched for clues about the outlook for interest rates.
However, Powell could simply reiterate the sentiments expressed in the minutes of the latest Fed meeting, which only further muddied the monetary policy outlook.
The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on new home sales in the month of July. New home sales are expected to come in nearly unchanged in July after soaring by 7.0 percent in June.
After failing to sustain an early move to the upside, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing mixed.
The major averages moved to the downside going into the close, although the Dow still ended the day up 49.51 points or 0.2 percent at 26,252.24. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 edged down 1.48 points or 0.1 percent to 2,922.95 and the Nasdaq fell 28.82 points or 0.4 percent to 7,991.39.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.7 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are plunging $1.66 to $53.69 a barrel after falling $0.33 to $55.35 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after sliding $7.20 to $1,508.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are climbing $4.70 to $1,513.20 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 106.54 yen versus the 106.44 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1062 compared to yesterday's $1.1080.
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