The stock market indexes came off the deepest part of the session but remained sharply lower as a China trade deal appeared to be farther off than Wall Street hoped.
XPresident Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are not likely to meet before a key March 1 deadline on trade talks. CNBC first reported the news, and Trump confirmed it himself later in the day. That followed White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow 's remarks on Fox Business Network that China and U.S. negotiators remain far apart on an agreement.
Also Thursday, reports suggested slowing global growth. Industrial production surprisingly fell in Germany and Spain in December, while the European Commission cut its forecast for this year's eurozone growth.
Those headlines sent the Nasdaq down as much as 1.9% today. In afternoon trading, the Nasdaq was off 1.4%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1% and the S&P 500 was down 1.3%. Volume was higher compared with the same time on Wednesday, as institutional investors dumped stocks more than any single day over the past several weeks.
Declining stocks led advancers by about an 8-5 ratio on the NYSE and Nasdaq.
Indexes had climbed sharply from their lows around Christmas, and a pause seemed likely as the market approached key chart levels. One of those, as explained in The Big Picture, was the 200-day moving average of the S&P 500. The index got less than 1% from its 200-day average this week before turning lower.
Not Necessarily A Top
That doesn't necessarily mean the market has topped. Rather, it's a time to be more guarded with stocks. Indexes may need at least a few days to catch their breath. IBD's market outlook says the stock market is in a confirmed uptrend.
Facebook (FB) and Microsoft (MSFT) fell back below their 200-day lines. Alphabet (GOOGL) gapped down and is deeper below its 200-day line. But none of those charts changed significantly.
Nearly every sector was lower, with only the defensive real estate and utility sectors showing mild gains. Energy was weakest. The price of U.S. crude slid more than 3% to $52.34 a barrel on worries about the China-U. S. trade war.
The Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) fared relatively better, down 0.6% and farther off its session low than the stock indexes.
Match Group (MTCH) was the best stock on the IBD 50, up 7% even after trimming gains after its earnings report. The operator of Tinder and other dating apps broke out past a 58.10 buy point but retreated below the entry. The stock's base was late stage and deeper than normal, so Match Group is less likely to make a big advance.
Twitter (TWTR) was a major drag on the IBD 50, after shares of the social media company plunged 10% in heavy volume. Twitter beat sales and profit expectations, but gave a weak outlook. The stock is 35% off its prior high and was compromised even before today's sell-off.
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