The US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, creating tensions between the US and China and weighing generally on investor sentiment. However the tensions provided support for defence companies. Shares in Caterpillar fell 5.8% after warning of a bigger drop in demand for its excavators in China. Shares in Uber Technologies jumped 18.9% after the ride-hailing firm reported positive quarterly cash flow for the first time ever and forecast upbeat third-quarter operating profit. The Dow Jones index fell by 402 points or 1.2%. The S&P 500 index lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq index fell by 20 points or 0.2%.

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