Wall Street drops sharply on Tuesday as trade dispute stays in spotlight

Major equity indexes in the U.S. started the day under pressure on Tuesday as investors are staying on the sidelines and book their profits following last week's rally amid the uncertainty surrounding the U.S.-China trade conflict. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both down 1.06% on the day while the Nasdaq Composite was falling 1.23%.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, which are all in the negative territory in the early trade, the trade-sensitive Industrials and Materials indexes were losing 1.4% and 1.2%, respectively, on the day. In the meantime, the Energy index is down 1.5% on the day pressured by falling crude oil prices.

According to the latest headlines, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will be in Washington on Thursday and Friday for the next round of trade talks but it's still unclear if President Trump will give the order to increase the tariff rate on Chinese imports to 25% from 10% at the end of the week.