NEW YORK: US stocks dipped on Thursday as a US Supreme Court ruling on state sales tax collection pulled Amazon and other online retailers lower while industrials continued to falter on concerns over trade war concerns.
Amazon dropped as much as 1.9 percent after the ruling, which allows states to force online retailers to collect sales taxes, before paring losses to trade down 0.9 percent. Wayfair lost 0.7 percent, Overstock.com tumbled 6.5 percent, Etsy declined 1.0 and Ebay dropped 3.2 percent.
"You have seen the tug of war as far as investors are concerned with the trading ranges since the announcement, it would appear it is still to be determined the absolute level of ramifications," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at US Bank Private Wealth Management in New York.
Intel also weighed heavily on the S&P 500, down 2.0 percent after Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich resigned following a probe that revealed a past consensual relationship with an employee violated company policy.
Big US manufacturers and automakers were under pressure after Germany's Daimler cut its 2018 profit forecast and BMW said it was looking at "strategic options" because of a trade war between the US and China.
Caterpillar lost 2.19 percent and Boeing declined 1.4 percent, with the S&P industrials off 1.00 percent and on track for their seventh fall in eight sessions.
"Our feeling had been there is some complacency built in to that expectation that it is more ploy than policy. But one of the first cracks in that argument right now is the Daimler announcement," said Weigand.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 161.44 points, or 0.65 percent, to 24,496.36, the S&P 500 lost 13.92 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,753.4 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 54.74 points, or 0.7 percent, to 7,726.78.
The price-weighted Dow index is heavily affected by industrial companies and trade concerns pushed the index into negative territory for the year earlier this week, with the index on pace for its eight straight decline.
Ford fell 1.60 percent, General Motors dropped 2.06 percent and Tesla declined 3.75 percent. The S&P 500 automobiles and components index slumped 1.77percent.
Energy was the worst performing sector, down 1.86 percent as oil prices fell ahead of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, where producers are expected to boost output.
Earnings were a bright spot, with Darden Restaurants surging 14.64 percent and grocer Kroger jumping 9.74 percent after issuing strong quarterly results.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.07-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.23-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and 9 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 118 new highs and 33 new lows.
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