Wall Street's main indexes struggled for direction on Thursday as an abrupt end to a US-North Korean summit and a clutch of weak earnings hit sentiment, with a better-than-feared GDP data offering some support. President Donald Trump said he had walked away from a nuclear deal at his summit with Kim Jong Un in Vietnam because of unacceptable demands from the North Korean leader to lift US-led sanctions.
"After the lack of results from the North Korean summit, there could be some nervousness about the possibility of similar results coming out of China tariff negotiations," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"But the biggest factor is that we've had a sharp rise since the Christmas Eve lows. A lot of people are just nervous that we've come too far too fast." The S&P 500 index is set to record its third straight day of losses, after being boosted in the recent weeks by optimism around trade and dovish signals from the Federal Reserve. The benchmark index is about 5 percent away from its September record closing high.
Adding to the cautious mood was a bunch of bleak earnings reports. HP Inc plunged about 17 percent after the company's revenue fell short of analysts' estimates. Booking Holdings Inc fell 9.62 percent after the company missed quarterly earnings expectations and was among the biggest drags on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite.
At 12:51 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 29.20 points, or 0.11 percent, at 25,955.96. The S&P 500 was down 0.92 points, or 0.03 percent, at 2,791.46 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 3.46 points, or 0.05 percent, at 7,557.97.
Data from the Commerce Department showed the US economy slowed less than expected in the fourth quarter amid solid consumer and business spending. Of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the energy sector was the biggest loser, with a 1 percent fall, as crude prices eased.