US stocks dipped in choppy trading on Tuesday after President Donald Trump's threat to move ahead with additional tariffs on Chinese goods weighed on industrial stocks. Trump said he expected to move ahead with raising tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent at the start of 2019.
Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires this week, but his latest comments have given little hope about the two countries resolving their trade dispute, which has battered financial markets this year.
The trade-sensitive industrial sector fell 0.97 percent, with Boeing Co, the single largest US exporter to China, down 0.4 percent and Caterpillar Inc 1.3 percent.
United Technologies Corp tumbled 5.8 percent, the most on the benchmark S&P 500 index, after its plan to split into three companies failed to impress investors.
"Until we get more clarification on the trade front, we are going to see some choppy waters," said Ryan Nauman, Market Strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence, Zephyr Cove, Nevada.
Wall Street's main indexes swung between gains and losses during the session, but are currently off their session lows with Apple Inc paring losses and chipmakers turning positive.
The iPhone maker's shares fell as much as 2.1 percent earlier in the session after Trump said tariffs could be placed on the company's laptops and iPhones imported from China. Shares were last down 0.9 percent.
Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index rose 0.16 percent, reversing earlier losses. Maxim Integrated led the gains with a 4.9 percent rise on report that it was set to join the S&P 500.
At 13:12 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 66.26 points, or 0.27 percent, at 24,573.98, the S&P 500 was down 5.10 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,668.35 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 25.97 points, or 0.37 percent, at 7,055.88.
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