Wall Street ends mixed; Trump threatens China with cooking oil ban

STORY: Wall Street's main indexes ended mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow adding more than four-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 falling fractionally and the Nasdaq shedding roughly three-quarters of a percent.The S&P 500 turned lower after President Trump threw cooking oil onto simmering U.S.-China trade tensions.Trump said the U.S. would halt Chinese imports of the kitchen staple in retaliation for China's reduction in U.S. soybean purchases.Meanwhile, the government shutdown dragged on for a 14th day, something that could eventually drag the market down with it, said Melissa Brown, managing director of investment decision research at SimCorp."I always hate to say this time it's different, but I think there's a potential because this time it could drag out a lot longer than any of the shutdowns in the past have dragged out. There, you know, there are people fired from their jobs, so they're not just, you know, deferring what they might be buying. That ability, that purchasing power may go away. And so there is, I think, the possibility, if this does drag out for it to start to impact corporate earnings, consumer spending, consumer confidence, and therefore the stock market.” Among individual movers, Wells Fargo closed more than 7% higher, its biggest one-day percentage gain since November 2024, after the bank beat estimates for third-quarter profit.Shares of Walmart rose 5% after the retailer said it was partnering with OpenAI to enable customers and Sam's Club members to shop directly within ChatGPT.And shares of Caterpillar jumped 4.5% after JP Morgan raised its price target on the stock.

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