Dow futures swing wildly on conflicting signals from China and Walmart

[r2d2]

Dow futures gave investors whiplash Thursday morning, wildly bouncing back and forth after China threatened yet another escalation in its trade war with the United States and Walmart reported strong earnings and a brighter forecast. Walmart said its outlook for the rest of 2019 has improved after Americans shopped more at the stores in the second quarter. With its huge network of thousands of stores, Walmart is a bellwether for consumer spending. For investors, that contrasted with a threat from China. On Thursday, the Chinese Ministry of Finance said it would "take necessary countermeasures" after the United States earlier this month announced a new 10% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods. China said the new tariffs "seriously violated the consensus" Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to at the G20 meeting earlier this year.

brace yourself for a roller coaster ride today...