US stocks tumble on escalating trade tensions

Major US equity indices kicked off a new trading week on a downbeat note and tumbled during the opening hour of trade amid escalating US-China trade war fears.

Trade tensions between the world's two largest economies showed no sign of abating as the US President Donald Trump now planning to put new curbs on Chinese investment in the US technology firms and blocking additional technology exports to Beijing. 

Trade hostilities, which sent ripples across global financial markets, were once again seen driving investment flows towards perceived safe-haven assets. This coupled with a sharp fall in crude oil prices further took a toll on perceived riskier assets like equities and collaborated to the early slump on Monday.

At the time of writing this report, all the three major indices - Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broader S&P 500 Index and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, were down anywhere between 1.0% to 1.5% for the day and added to last week's sharp fall led by signs of a prolonged trade war.