Wall Street Slides On Tech Woe, Trade Fears

US stocks fell back into the red on Wednesday, putting equities down for three of the last four sessions as investors reacted to reports of possible new US-China trade frictions.

US chip titan Qualcomm also drove tech shares lower after a federal judge found the company had "strangled competition" by violating US anti-trust laws.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 per cent to close at 25,777, leaving it essentially flat for the week.

Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 fell also 0.4 per cent to 2,856, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.5 per cent to finish at 7,751, both turning negative for the week.

Investors were jarred by media reports that President Donald Trump was considering blacklisting the Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision in a move similar to this month's ban on sales to telecommunications firm Huawei, which likewise battered stocks.

Qualcomm sank 10.9 per cent, extending a string of recent losses after US Judge Lucy Koh ordered the company to change its pricing and sales practices, finding it had "engaged in anticompetitive conduct" toward customers like Samsung, Sony and Huawei. (AFP)