Dow drops more than 600 points, posts worst day since January as China trade war escalates

Stocks fell sharply on Monday after China decided to raise tariffs on some U.S. goods as the ongoing trade war between the world’s largest economies intensifies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 617.38 points, or 2.4%, to 25,324.99 and posted its worst session since Jan. 3. The S&P 500 also had its worst day since early January, falling 2.4% to 2,811.87.  The Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.4% — its biggest one-day loss of the year — to 7,647.02. 

At its lows of the day, the Dow fell as much as 719.86 points while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded down 2.8% and 3.6%, respectively, at their session lows. The indexes came off their lows in afternoon trading after President Donald Trump said he had not decided whether to slap tariffs on an additional $325 billion in Chinese goods.