Tech losses drag down markets

Apple, Microsoft and Amazon sustained some of the worst losses as technology companies tumbled again, leading to broad losses. The Dow Jones industrial average briefly fell 500 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.7 percent to 2,690.73. The Dow sank 1.6 percent to 25,017.44. It was down as much as 512 earlier. The Nasdaq composite skidded 3 percent to 7,028.48. Boeing, a major exporter, gave up 4.5 percent. Apple fell 4 percent and Amazon gave back 5.1 percent.

Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide Investment Management, said investors are dumping the high-profile technology companies that have dominated the market recently. He said investors are picking companies based on traditional profit and revenue figures instead of the kind of user growth figures favored by tech companies.

Investors focused on simmering trade tension between Washington and Beijing after the two governments clashed at a weekend conference. The two countries have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods in a fight over China’s technology policy. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are due to meet this month at a gathering of the Group of 20 major economies. At the weekend meeting in Papua New Guinea, Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, criticized Beijing for intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and unfair trading practices.

Benchmark U.S. crude lost 13 cents to $57.07 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 52 cents on Monday to $57.20.