US stocks slid on Thursday, but were off session lows, after President Donald Trump said he planned to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports, but his action was far removed from threats that could have ignited a global trade war.
Trump, according to a presidential memorandum he signed, will target the imports only after a consultation period. China will also have space to respond, reducing the risk of immediate retaliation from Beijing, and Trump struck an emollient tone while speaking, saying "I view them as a friend."
"Nothing actually gets put into place today. It looks like there is going to be at least a 30-day window between now and when it actually gets implemented," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
At 13:30 pm ET, the Dow was down 251.93 points, or 1.02 percent, to 24,430.38. The S&P 500 was lower 25.2 points, or 0.929228 percent, to 2,686.73. The Nasdaq Composite was down 69.72 points, or 0.95 percent, to 7,275.57.
Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were in the red, with five of them down more than 1.5 percent. Earlier they were down more than 2 percent. The defensive utilities, consumer staples and real estate sectors were higher.
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