US stocks close sharply lower as Dow Jones sheds more than 600 points

US stocks fell during today's trading and recorded the biggest one-day loss since the beginning of this year as the US-China trade dispute escalated.

China announced today its plans to increase tariffs on imports of US goods by $60 billion from 10% to 25% starting from June, in response to a similar move taken by Washington last week.

The technology sector has been hit by these trade tensions as markets fear Beijing will target its imports of US technology goods with tariffs.

In the oil market, West Texas fell 1% to $61.04 a barrel, with a high of $63.3 and a low of $60.6.

Brent fell 0.6% to close at $70.23 a barrel, hitting a high of $72.5 and a low of $69.7.

At the end of the trading session, Dow Jones fell 2.4% (equivalent to 617 points) to 25,325 points, the highest level at 25,568 points and the lowest level at 25,222 points.

Nasdaq also slipped 3.4% (270 points) to 7,747 points, the highest at 7,760 points and the lowest at 7,727 points.

Standard & Poor's fell 2.4% (69 points) to 2,812 points, reaching a high of 2,840 points and a low of 2,801 points.