Dow Jones futures tumbled late Monday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures, after the U.S. declared China a "currency manipulator" following Beijing's yuan devaluation Monday. That yuan devaluation, in response to new tariffs from President Donald Trump, sent global stock markets plunging Monday. Microsoft stock, Apple stock, Amazon stock, Facebook stock and AMD stock all showed notable losses overnight as the China trade war continued to escalate.....MORE
"Secretary Mnuchin, under the auspices of President Trump, has today determined that China is a Currency Manipulator," the Treasury Department said in a statement after the stock market close Monday. "As a result of this determination, Secretary Mnuchin will engage with the International Monetary Fund to eliminate the unfair competitive advantage created by China's latest actions.
The People's Bank of China set the yuan benchmark rate above 6.9 for the first time this year. That sent the yuan above 7 to the dollar, the lowest since 2008. The offshore yuan hit a record low, letting the currency to hit its lowest level since 2008.
The PBOC cited "trade protectionism" for its yuan devaluation, an explicit response to the new Trump tariffs. After its yuan devaluation, the PBOC said it wanted to keep the currency relatively stable.
Trump denounced the PBOC's yuan move as currency manipulation. Hours later, the Trump administration made it official U.S. policy. Most economists say China's currency is not particularly cheap vs. the dollar, Monday's yuan devaluation notwithstanding. But Trump has long accused Beijing of keeping its currency artificially low....
Last I saw DJIA futures were down a further 340 points, S&P 500 down 37.
