Wall Street lower as drops in Amazon, Intel add to trade worries

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as oil prices slid, industrials dropped on worries over U.S.-China trade spat and Amazon led a decline in online retailers after the Supreme Court let states force the companies to collect sales tax.

Amazon dropped as much as 1.9 percent, before paring losses to trade down 0.3 percent. Wayfair, Overstock.com, Etsy, Ebay, and Shopify fell between 1.9 percent and 4.3 percent.

“Traders are very reactionary to Supreme Court news that could impact the balance sheet of online retailers,” said Andrew Thrasher, portfolio manager with Financial Enhancement Group LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“Right now all online retailers and tech stocks are getting thrown out with the bath water, so to speak, before we truly understand the implications (of the ruling).”

Another big drag was Intel, which retreated 1.8 percent after Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich resigned following a probe that revealed that a past consensual relationship with an employee violated company policy.

Big U.S. manufacturers extended their slide after a state-controlled Chinese tabloid said Beijing could target members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average if President Donald Trump kept exacerbating tensions over trade.

Caterpillar dropped 0.8 percent and Boeing was down 1.2 percent, with the S&P industrials’ 0.73 percent slide weighing the most on the markets.

The 30-member Dow index gave up its year-to-date gains earlier this week as the trade rhetoric escalated and is on pace to extend a seven-session losing streak.

At 11:58 a.m. ET, the Dow was down 129.40 points, or 0.52 percent, at 24,528.40, the S&P 500 was down 8.89 points, or 0.32 percent, at 2,758.43 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 25.37 points, or 0.33 percent, at 7,756.14.

Seven of the 11 main S&P sectors were trading lower, with the S&P energy sector down 1.3 percent as oil prices dropped after the OPEC appeared to be nearing a deal to increase production. [O/R]

The auto sector was hit by Germany’s Daimler cutting its 2018 profit forecast due to the China-U.S. trade dispute.

Ford slipped 1.2 percent, General Motors dropped 2.1 percent and Tesla declined 2.4 percent. The S&P 500 automobiles and components index was down 1.6 percent.

Earnings were a bright spot, with Darden Restaurants surging 12.1 percent and grocer Kroger jumping 9.3 percent after issuing strong quarterly results.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.93-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.96-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 21 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 80 new highs and 26 new lows.

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