US STOCKS-Wall St falls as Trump tariff threats spark market uncertainty

Updates to 2:48 pm ET

By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK, May 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday, on track for a weekly loss, after President Donald Trump recommended 50% tariffs on European goods, reopening a new front in global trade tensions and unleashing a fresh wave of market uncertainty.

All three main Wall Street indexes pared early losses but each was still set to shed more than 2% for the week. Technology and consumer discretionary stocks were the biggest losers of the S&P 500's 11 subsectors. Utilities and consumer staples stocks gained.

Apple AAPL.O touched a two-week low and was down 2.8% after Trump warned the iPhone-maker it could face potential 25% tariffs on phones sold to U.S. customers but not manufactured in the country.

Treasury yields eased from multi-month highs, falling 4.4 basis points to 4.509% for the benchmark U.S. 10-year note.

"If I were to put a headline on today's story, it would be 'Here We Go Again!'" said James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Ocean Park Asset Management in Santa Monica, California.

"This is Trump turning on the temperature on the tariff conversation with the EU and Apple. The markets were hoping that the worst was behind us when it comes to the tariff rhetoric. But in reality, there's still some smoldering embers when it comes to the tariff talk," St. Aubin added.

At 2:48 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 129.67 points, or 0.31%, to 41,729.42. The S&P 500 .SPX lost 22.83 points, or 0.39%, at 5,819.18 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 134.01 points, or 0.71%, to 18,791.72.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump did not believe the EU's trade offers were of sufficient quality. He also said he hoped the threat of fresh tariffs would "light a fire under the EU" in negotiations.

Most megacap and growth stocks fell. Amazon AMZN.O was down 0.45% while Nvidia NVDA.O dropped 0.48%.

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, Wall Street's "fear gauge," hit a more than two-week high and last up 7% at 21.68 points. Semiconductor stocks .SOX fell more than 1%.

Deckers Outdoor DECK.N slumped almost 20% after the maker of UGG boots forecast first-quarter net sales below estimates and said it would not provide annual targets.

Sportswear maker Nike NKE.N dropped 2.2%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.19-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 75 new highs and 61 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and eight new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 37 new highs and 92 new lows.

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)

((Chibuike.Oguh@thomsonreuters.com; +332-219-1834; Reuters Messaging: chibuike.oguh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))