Amazon shares fall 6 percent on Nasdaq as US President Donald Trump renews attack

Washington:  Amazon dropped more than six percent, wiping out nearly USD 45 billion of its market value, after President Donald Trump launched his latest attack over the pricing of the online retailer`s deliveries through the US postal system and promised unspecified changes, Reuters reported on Monday.

Trump has been accusing the online retail giant of massive tax evasion and causing unspecified financial loss to the US Postal Service. He hit out at Amazon again, alleging that the US Postal Service is losing a "fortune" due to them.

Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country...not a level playing field! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018

Meanwhile, a selloff in technology majors deepened on Monday, wiping out the tech-heavy Nasdaq index`s gains for the year and pushing the benchmark S&P 500 below a closely watched technical level for the first time in nearly two months.

All the 11 major S&P sectors fell, with markets also coming under pressure from renewed fears of a global trade war after China imposed additional tariffs on 128 US products, as per reports.

At 12:55 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 502.3 points, or 2.08 percent, at 23,600.81. The S&P 500 was down 58.35 points, or 2.21 percent, at 2,582.52, falling below its 200-day moving average for the first time since during a market sell-off in early February 2018. 

The Nasdaq Composite was down 167.98 points, or 2.38 percent, at 6,895.47. The index was down 0.20 percent for the year.

(With Reuters inputs)