Stocks plunge after Trump's trade tweets

U.S. stock markets fell sharply on Friday following a day of escalating trade tensions between Washington, D.C. and Beijing.

By the numbers: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 623 points, or 2.37%. The Nasdaq lost 3%, and the S&P 500 was off 2.59%.

Driving the news: Shares opened lower after China announced $75 billion in retaliatory tariffs early Friday, but then picked up into positive territory after Fed chair Jerome Powell avoided making waves in a highly watched speech.

• Thereafter, Trump's took to Twitter, targeting both Powell (who he called an "enemy" of America) and China (from which he "ordered" U.S. companies to withdraw), and pledged new trade actions.
• Stocks fell more than 200 points immediately after the tweets, and only went further down from there — save for a small uptick in the closing minutes.