NEW YORK: Wall Street opened lower Thursday, with investor enthusiasm dampened at the start and worsening shortly after when President Donald Trump called off a planned summit with North Korea.
Adding to the market angst, Washington announced late Wednesday it was opening an investigation of auto imports on national security grounds -- the same procedure which resulted in the punishing steel and aluminum tariffs announced in March.
The lower open followed Wednesday's late rally effort, when stocks rose in relief after the Federal Reserve signaled it may exercise patience as it raises interest rates in the face of mounting inflation.
Markets also were lower in advance of the coming holiday weekend, the traditional start of summer in the United States.
About 15 minutes into the day's trading session, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.4 percent to 24,787.11.
The broader S&P 500 fell more 0.4 percent to 2,721.95, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 0.35 percent to 7,397.33.
Shares were falling further after the White House announced Trump had canceled the planned June summit, blaming North Korean "anger" and "hostility."
Even before that news broke, Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com said Wednesday's Fed minutes had not been enough to put investors at ease.
"The basis for why that it can be tied to the political uncertainty," he wrote, "yet it's fair to consider as well that there just might not be a lot of interest getting involved right now in front of a three-day weekend."
General Electric bucked the trend, rising two percent, a day after having its worst day in nine years following a poorly received investor presentation by CEO John Flannery.
Electronics retailer Best Buy fell nearly six percent despite beating quarterly sales and earnings expectations.
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