Thursday's early afternoon trade: Indexes drop as Huawei report, Washington turmoil weigh

Wall Street's main indexes fell on Thursday after a report that the United States is unlikely to extend a waiver allowing American firms to supply China's Huawei, added to worries over an inquiry into the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The Philadelphia semiconductor index, which includes a number of companies that supply to the Chinese telecom equipment maker, fell 0.41% after Bloomberg's report on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
"It has been a recurring theme with China. It's one step forward and one step back," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
"We'll probably see a little back and forth, and a little bit of volatility for at least the next few weeks."
A whistleblower report released earlier in the day alleged that Trump not only abused his office in attempting to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 US election, but that the White House also tried to "lock down" evidence about that conduct. The report is seen as central to the impeachment inquiry.
The S&P energy sector, down 1.41%, was the worst performer among the 11 major S&P sectors, tracking lower oil prices after a rebound in Saudi Arabian supply.
Facebook Inc slipped 2.4% as a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US Justice Department will open an antitrust investigation of the social media company. The stock was among the largest drags on the Nasdaq.
Healthcare stocks shed 1%, looking at their fourth day of losses.
At 13:18 ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 90.96 points, or 0.34%, at 26,879.75, the S&P 500 was down 12.28 points, or 0.41%, at 2,972.59. The Nasdaq Composite was down 63.58 points, or 0.79%, at 8,013.80.