US stocks fell on Thursday after President Donald Trump cancelled a planned historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and threatened tariffs on auto imports while trade tensions with China simmered. Trump cancelled the June 12 meeting "based on the tremendous anger and open hostility" in Kim's recent statement, even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site.
The market was already lower earlier, due to a slide in oil prices and worries that Trump ordering a national security probe into car and truck imports could further complicate trade negotiations with China. The probe, ordered on Wednesday, could lead to new tariffs and China called the move an "abuse" of the national security clauses and said it would defend its interests.
Market participants said the sharp drop after the summit was canceled was a knee-jerk reaction.
"What we are seeing is a little more broad. We are at the mercy of the (Trump) administration, not just on North Korea but on trade with the auto tariffs," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, New York.
At 12:19 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 133.75 points, or 0.54 percent, at 24,753.06, the S&P 500 was down 9.76 points, or 0.36 percent, at 2,723.53 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 11.92 points, or 0.16 percent, at 7,414.04.
Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were in the red, with the energy sector down 1.53 percent.
Best Buy Co tumbled 7.68 percent after the consumer electronics retailer reported a slowdown in quarterly online sales and did not update its full-year outlook.