Chipmakers and Apple Tumble as Tariff Uncertainty Spikes

(Bloomberg) -- Semiconductor companies and Apple Inc. fell sharply on Friday, as the trade war between the U.S. and China continued to escalate.

China’s Ministry of Finance said the country plans to levy retaliatory tariffs on another $75 billion of U.S. goods, pressuring the securities in pre-market trading. Their losses were extended following the open, after President Donald Trump subsequently said that he would announce his response Friday afternoon.

Apple fell as much as 3.9%. The iPhone maker is heavily correlated to trade issues because China is both a major part of its supply chain and a notable market for its products. The company derived nearly 20% of its 2018 revenue from China, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Chipmakers have been similarly volatile because of the trade war. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 3.6% on Friday, and every member of the benchmark industry index was in negative territory.

Among notable decliners, Qualcomm Inc. lost 3.3% while Nvidia Corp. was off 5% and Micron Technology shed 3.5%. Broadcom Inc. was down 4.9% and ON Semiconductor Corp. lost 5.4%.

Technology stocks were the weakest-performing sector on Friday, with the S&P 500 information technology index down 2.4%. The S&P 500 overall fell 1.4%.

(Adds Trump’s response in second paragraph, updates prices to market open)

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net

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