Alcoa Corp. shares had their worst day in 10 months amid growing concerns about Donald Trump’s plans to start a trade war with China if he is elected president in November.
AA shares of the aluminum producer,
fell 8.7% in afternoon trading, sparking a broad sell-off in the metals and mining sector. It was headed for its biggest one-day selloff since falling 10.8% on March 15, 2023.
It fell 12.4% in a five-day losing streak.
Meanwhile, XME exchange traded fund SPDR S&P Metals & Mining fell 2.6%, with 31 of its 33 equity components losing ground.
The sell-off comes after Trump said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that tariffs on goods from China could be even higher than the 60% the Washington Post reported he was considering.
After the Trump administration announced in March 2018 its intention to impose tariffs of 10% on imported aluminum and 25% on imported steel, Alcoa shares plummeted.
From the archive (July 2018): Alcoa CEO explains why aluminum tariffs hurt, not help
The stock lost 50.7% in 2018, posting the second-worst annual performance in its history, behind only 2008’s 69.2% decline during the financial crisis, based on FactSet data going back to 1972.
The metals and mining ETF tumbled 28% in 2018, compared to a 6.2% decline in the S&P 500 index’s SPX that year.
Among other XME components most active on Monday, Freeport-McMoRan Inc. shares FCX,
loses 3.7%, Newmont Corp. shares NEM,
lost 2.4%, Hecla Mining Co. shares HL,
down 4.4%, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. shares CLF,
falls 2.6% and Uranium Energy Corp. shares UEC,
they were down 1.5%.
Newmont shares were headed to their lowest close since May 2019, and Hecla Mining shares were set to close at a four-month low, while Uranium Energy shares were just two days away from a 17-year closing high of 8 $.20 on February 1st.