Thursday's early afternoon trade: Wall Street drops as trade worries resurface

US stocks fell on Thursday as worries that the United States and China may not be able to strike a trade deal overshadowed strong earnings reports from Apple and Facebook. The S&P 500 was on pace for its biggest drop in nearly three weeks, after notching intraday record highs in the past three sessions. All of its 11 major sectors were either trading flat or in the red. Interest-rate sensitive bank stocks shed 1.5%, a day after the Federal Reserve lowered borrowing costs for the third time this year.

Tempering recent optimism around trade was a Bloomberg report that said Chinese officials have doubts about whether it is possible to reach a comprehensive long-term trade deal with Washington and US President Donald Trump. However, Trump said the two countries would soon announce a new site where a "Phase One" trade deal will be signed after Chile cancelled a planned summit set for mid-November.

The trade-sensitive industrials sector shed 1.23%, while China exposed chipmakers also fell, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index slipping 1.14%. However, corporate earnings were a bright spot. Apple Inc rose 2% after the iPhone maker forecast sales for the holiday shopping quarter ahead of expectations. Facebook Inc gained 2% after reporting an uptick in users in lucrative markets and its third straight rise in quarterly sales growth.

At 12:34 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 221.13 points, or 0.81%, at 26,965.56, the S&P 500 was down 18.72 points, or 0.61%, at 3,028.05 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 34.41 points, or 0.41%, at 8,269.57. Data on Thursday showed a marginal rise in consumer spending in September, casting doubts on consumers' ability to continue driving the economy.