US Indexes Fell Sharply—Is a Trade War with China in the Offing?
After the Federal Reserve’s rate hike of 25 basis points on March 21, 2018, another key event impacted the major US indexes. On March 22, 2018, President Trump announced the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on up to $60.0 billion on China’s imports. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), and the PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ) fell ~2.5%, ~2.9%, and ~2.5%, respectively, on the day.