By Medha Singh
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, weighed down by declines in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) after the U.S. Supreme Court let states force online retailers to collect sales tax.
Amazon declined 0.7 percent and was the top drag on the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Adding to the pressure on markets was Germany's Daimler cutting its 2018 profit forecast and BMW looking at "strategic options" due to an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China.
Shares of U.S. automakers fell, Ford slipped 1.6 percent while General Motors (NYSE:GM) declined 2.5 percent.
If U.S. President Donald Trump keeps exacerbating tensions over trade, Beijing could strike at members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, state-controlled Chinese tabloid The Global Times said in a commentary.
Shares of Dow members Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and Boeing (NYSE:BA), reliant on China for a sizeable chunk of revenue, were the biggest drags on the bluechip Dow. Caterpillar dropped 2 percent and Boeing was down 1.6 percent.
"China has mainly been targeting agricultural space so if they start to target some of the Dow companies, people will start to get more concerned," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist and senior portfolio manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
At 10:24 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 175.91 points, or 0.71 percent, at 24,481.89, the S&P 500 was down 16.74 points, or 0.604917 percent, at 2,750.58 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 61.71 points, or 0.79 percent, at 7,719.81.
Six of the 11 main S&P sectors were trading lower, with the S&P energy sector down 1.2 percent as oil prices dropped after the OPEC appeared to be nearing a deal to increase production.
The 30-member Dow was on pace to extend a seven-session losing streak. The so-called FAANG stocks fell, a day after supporting the market.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) fell 1.2 percent after Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich stepped down after a probe revealed that a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee violated company policy.
A better-than-expected results and forecast pushed shares of Micron 1.2 percent higher.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) gained 11.4 percent after reporting better-than-expected same-restaurant sales and profit in the fourth quarter.
Grocer Kroger (NYSE:KR) soared 9.5 percent after raising the lower-end of its full-year earnings forecast and posting a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.49-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.75-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE for a 2.83-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, it was at 3.26-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The S&P index recorded 18 new 52-week highs and 8 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 67 new highs and 16 new lows.
