Dow skids to first loss since last Friday as report on China tariffs spooks Wall Street

U.S. stocks posted their first losses in the past five sessions and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq snapped a streak of 4 consecutive records, as a plethora of global worries buffeted equity indexes in the final week of August trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.53% finished off 0.5% at about 25,987, closing off the psychologically significant level at 26,000 for the first time this week. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.44% declined by 0.4% at 2,901, while the Nasdaq Composite Index, which had briefly carved out an intraday peak, ended down 0.3% at 8,088. Both the S&P and Nasdaq halted their succession of record closes at four. The market on Thursday was awash with concerns about emerging markets, with the Turkish lira USDTRY, -0.0511% and Argentine peso USDARS, -0.0034% tumbling against the buck and sparking fresh concerns that emerging economies may upend the stock market's recent assault at landmark levels. Losses gathered steam late in the afternoon, after a report from Bloomberg News indicated that President Donald Trump plans to impose $200 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese imports next week. The report, citing people familiar, said the import levies on Beijing could come once the deadline for public comment on the tariffs passes on Sept. 6, but that the president has yet to complete his decision. Concerns about trade relations with China and the U.S. come as the two parties are set to negotiate in earnest in November and as the U.S. had been seen making headway in resolving trade differences with Canada and Mexico. In corporate news, shares of Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.92% gained following an announcement that it will host an event on Sept. 12 where the company is expected to announce its latest iteration of the iPhone. Prominent investors Warren Buffett also announced on CNBC Thursday morning that he accumulated more shares in the iPhone maker. Ultimately, moves for the market were comparatively slight and come in a thinly traded summer period that can lend itself to exaggerated swings, market participants cautioned.

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