Wall Street ends mostly lower on China trade tensions

US stock indices closed the third session of the week mostly lower as concerns over an escalating US-China trade war cancelled out a strong earnings season.

China announced new 25% tariffs on $16 billion worth of US imports in retaliation to similar ones put by the Trump administration, expected to go into effect in late August simultaneously. 

Indices, Commodities 

Dow Jones closed down 0.18%, or 45.16 points to 25,583.75, while Standard and Poor's 500 shed 0.03%, or 0.75 points to 2,857.70. NASDAQ Composite inched up 0.06%, or 4.66 points to 7,888.33. 

Gold futures due on December rose 0.30% to $1,221.90 an ounce, while the dollar index slipped 0.11% to 95.09 versus a basket of major rivals. 

US crude futures due in September slumped 3.47% to $66.77 a barrel, while Brent futures due in October swooned 3.26% to $72.22 a barrel. 

Otherwise, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin spoke earlier today at a town hall event, in Virginia, where he lauded the the strong performance and outlook for the economy, with stellar growth, unemployment numbers, while wages are growing quickly.

Barkin believes that inflation is heading firmly towards the Federal Reserve's 2% target, while both business and consumer confidence continue to improve, in turn all allowing for the Fed to increase interest rates and tighten policy in a gradual manner.  

Last week, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to hold overnight interest raters unchanged at 1.75% to 2.0% as expected by analysts, while laying the groundwork for further policy tightening and normalization of the balance sheet in the months to come.