US STOCKS-Wall Street sinks as yuan slide intensifies trade angst, Dow loses 700 points

* Apple set to drop for third session on tariff worries
* Technology stocks lead broad selloff
* Tyson Foods rises after profit beats estimates
* Indexes drop: Dow 2.40%, S&P 2.45%, Nasdaq 3.06%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh
Aug 5 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled
more than 700 points in a global selloff on Monday, triggered by
China's willingness to let the yuan slide in response to the
latest U.S. threats on trade.
The yuan sank to its lowest level in more than a decade, and
President Donald Trump slammed it as "a major violation",
sending investors scurrying for the safety of assets such as
government bonds, gold and the Japanese yen. Adding to the tensions, China's Commerce Ministry said that
Chinese companies have stopped buying U.S. agricultural
products, and that China will not rule out imposing import
tariffs on U.S. farm products that were bought after Aug. 3.
stunned financial markets last week by threatening to
impose 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese
imports, abruptly abandoning a brief ceasefire.
"The President is playing a very risky game here," said
Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist, senior portfolio
manager at Slatestone Wealth Llc in New York.
"The Chinese yuan weakening the way it has and with interest
rates tanking, I think the possibility of a recession has been
pushed up."
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX is set to fall for the sixth
straight session, its longest streak of losses since October
2018. The selloff was broad, with all the 11 major S&P sectors
in the red.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates for
the first time in a decade as expected but poured cold water on
investor hopes of a long easing cycle to cushion the economy
from the bruising trade war.
The S&P technology sector .SPLRCT , heavily exposed by its
chipmakers and other global technology players to Chinese
markets, dropped 3.5%.
Apple Inc AAPL.O slid 4.7% as analysts warned that the
newly proposed tariffs may hurt demand for its flagship iPhone,
while the Philadelphia chip index .SOX slipped 4.1%.
At 12:55 p.m. ET, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
was down 269.70 points, or 3.37%, at 7,734.37.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 743.46
points, or 2.81%, at 25,741.55 and the S&P 500 .SPX was down
82.70 points, or 2.82%, at 2,849.35.
The CBOE Volatility index .VIX , a gauge of investor
anxiety, rose to its highest level in about three months at
22.40 points.
U.S. Treasury yields tumbled, with the 10-year yields
hitting their lowest level since November 2016.
The difference between the three-month Treasury bill rate
US3MT=RR and 10-year yields US10YT=RR increased to the
widest since April 2007. This curve "inversion" between the two
maturities has preceded every U.S. recession in the past 50
years. US/
Interest-rate sensitive banks .SPXBK shed 3.40%.
The rest of the high-flying FAANG group also lost ground.
Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Netflix Inc
NFLX.O and Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O were down
between 2.5% and 3.1%.
No.1 U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc TSN.N was one
bright spot, up 8.6% after beating quarterly profit estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 6.35-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 6.72-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and 26 new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 11 new highs and 229 new lows.