Investing.com – Wall Street was lower on Thursday as trade tensions resurfaced.
The S&P 500 lost six points or 0.21% to 2,809.58 as of 9:42 AM ET (13:42 GMT) while the Dow decreased 57 points or 0.23% to 25,141.37 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was down 10 points or 0.13% to 7,844.27.
Trade tensions continued after China said the White House was wrong to blame Chinese President Xi Jinping for blocking progress on a trade deal. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC that the U.S. President Donald Trump's trade strategy is not as disruptive as many describe.
Investors were unmoved by data showing the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week was at its lowest level since December 1969.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) rose 2.64% after it dropped its bid for media assets owned by Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) and instead will focus on European pay-TV group SKY PLC (LON:SKYB). The move means Walt Disney is likely to acquire Fox, who was also bidding for the firm.
Fox slumped 1.29% while Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 1.40%.
Meanwhile earnings season continues, with IBM (NYSE:IBM) increasing 3.74% and ABB Ltd (NYSE:ABB) jumping 3.64% after their financial results came in better than expected.
Elsewhere eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) decreased 8.27% after missing revenue estimates, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) lost 2.37%.
In Europe stocks were mostly down. Germany’s DAX fell 67 points or 0.53% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 21 points or 0.39% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 18 points or 0.24%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost eight points or 0.25% while Spain’s IBEX 35 edged down 35 points or 0.37%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.93% to $1,216.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.99% to $68.42 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.43% to 95.25.