Trade war fears with China reared their head again to drive a weekly decline in US stocks. The S&P 500 fell 1.4% and the Dow eased 0.7% for the week. Internationally, Europe gained 1.1% and Japan was up 0.5% for the week. The yield on the 10 year Treasury bond edged up to finish the week at 2.78%. Article
The Trump administration announced another $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods that could be assessed unless an agreement is worked out between the two countries. The 25% tariffs include medicines, medical equipment dishwashers, machine tools and chemicals.
US employers hired 103,000 people in March well below the 178,000 expected. The unemployment rate was expected to drop to 4.0%, but held at 4.1% for the sixth straight month. Wage gains increased 2.7% in March. Revisions from January and February reduced the number of hires by 50,000. Article
President Trump threated China with an additional $100 billion in tariffs.
Fed Chairmen Powell said the Fed will stick to its gradual approach to raising interest rates as long as the economy stays on its current path.