Stocks dip with China trade war

Global stocks took small losses Monday after China reportedly pulled out of trade talks with the U.S. Industrial companies and banks suffered some of the worst declines among American stocks.

The U.S. and China officially began taxing larger amounts of each other’s goods Monday, and the Wall Street Journal reported that China pulled out of talks that could have led to a new round of negotiations to end the trade war.

The U.S. is now taxing another $200 billion in Chinese imports at a rate of 10 percent, and China added taxes of 5 to 10 percent on $60 billion in U.S. products. Among industrial companies, which are considered especially vulnerable to tariffs, General Electric dropped 3.5 percent, while 3M declined 1.3 percent.

Gains in other sectors helped offset some of the trade-related selling, leaving U.S. indexes only slightly lower.

Marriott workers authorize strike

Thousands of Marriott workers — cooks and cashiers, bellhops and housekeepers — have voted to authorize their union to strike at dozens of locations from Waikiki to Boston and San Diego to Detroit. Alongside the usual demands for higher wages, the union is asking for procedures to protect workers affected by new technologies. With advances in machine learning and other innovations in information technology, many service jobs are now potentially in jeopardy. Compared with manufacturing, the investment needed to automate some tasks in the hotel sector — like front desk or concierge services — is likely to be relatively low.

Starbucks to cut back at the top

Starbucks plans to thin out its executive ranks as part of a corporate reshuffling that it hopes will help revitalize sales and hasten its growth overseas. The global coffee behemoth will lay off some nonretail employees at the vice president and senior vice president level, a spokeswoman said Monday. In a memo last week, the chief executive, Kevin Johnson, notified employees of a reorganization meant to help the company expand internationally, particularly in fast-growing markets like China. Starbucks declined to say how many people would be affected.

— From wire reports