It was Day #2 with a Trump statement bringing the Dow way down out the gate only for it to recover later in the session on more positive economic news.  Today’s statement was the cancellation of the June 12 meeting with North Korea with the cited reason being “open hostility,” which brought the index down almost 300 points.  But this was mostly reversed by Netflix emerging today as the #1 company in entertainment, overtaking even Disney and, later in the session, with overall investor sentiment being that the Pyongyang deal is merely postponed a few weeks, not canceled.  In the end, the Dow was 75 points down.  Volume was a little below average at 6.3 billion.  

thu  MAY 24, 2018 / 5:01 pm 

Wall Street dips after Trump cancels North Korea summit; Netflix gains

Caroline Valetkevitch

DJ:  24,811.76  -75.05        NAS:  7,424.43  -1.53         S&P:  2,727.76  -5.53        5/24

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended down slightly on Thursday after President Donald Trump canceled a planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and threatened to impose tariffs on auto imports, though losses were limited by gains in Netflix and General Electric.

Trump’s order on Wednesday for an investigation into whether vehicle and auto part imports had damaged the U.S. auto industry could further complicate trade negotiations with China and other trading partners.

Early Thursday, Trump canceled the June 12 meeting citing Pyongyang’s “open hostility,” even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site. But stocks recouped much of the day’s losses by the end of the session, and market participants said the sharp drop after the summit was canceled was a knee-jerk reaction.  “People were genuinely pleased that it was going to happen,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.  “And I still wouldn’t be surprised to see a reversal of this reversal sometime in the next few weeks as each side sits down and thinks about what’s really in its best interest.”

A decline in energy shares following lower oil prices also weighed on the market, with the S&P energy index .SPNY ending down 1.7 percent. On the flip side, General Electric (GE.N) rose 3 percent, rebounding from the previous session’s losses, and Netflix’s (NFLX.O) stock gained 1.3 percent, both helping the market.  Netflix’s stock market value ballooned to a record $153 billion and eclipsed Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) for the first time, making it the world’s most valuable entertainment company. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 75.05 points, or 0.3 percent, to 24,811.76, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 5.53 points, or 0.20 percent, to 2,727.76 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXICdropped 1.53 points, or 0.02 percent, to 7,424.43. 

Defense stocks jumped after Trump called off the North Korea meeting and warned the U.S. military was ready in the event of any “reckless” acts by North Korea.  Ford (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N) also gained on the possibility of tariffs on European and Asian car imports. U.S.-listed shares of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU.N) fell 0.9 percent. 

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.03-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.09-to-1 ratio favored decliners.  The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 106 new highs and 44 new lows.

About 6.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges. That compared with the 6.6 billion-share daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.