Stocks slide ahead of US-Canada trade talks; tech lags

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stocks are lower Wednesday morning as technology companies decline. Those stocks have been the market's biggest gainers for more than a year. Executives from Facebook and Twitter are testifying to Congress about their efforts to prevent meddling in U.S. elections. The U.S. and Canada are scheduled to restart trade talks later in the day.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index skidded 13 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,883 as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time. The benchmark index fell 0.2 percent on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 36 points, or 0.1 percent, to 25,916. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 87 points, or 1.1 percent, to 8,003. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 14 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,719.

TECH HEARING: Technology companies were also down for the second consecutive day. Executives from Facebook and Twitter are testifying to Congress about their efforts trying to root out foreign actors who want to interfere in U.S. elections.

In a separate hearing, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is set to reject charges from Republicans who say his site is biased against conservatives, an accusation they and President Donald Trump have made without evidence.

Twitter fell 3.6 percent to $33.57 Wednesday and Facebook lost 0.9 percent to $169.91. Snap shed 2.8 percent to $10.29.

FAVORITES FALL: Many of the largest companies on the market and the most successful stocks in 2018 traded lower. Microsoft fell 1.1 percent to $110.48 and Alphabet, Google's parent company, slid 1.1 percent to $1,198.42. Amazon dropped 1.4 percent to $2,011.75.

TRADE TENSIONS: The United States is due to resume talks with Canada on revising the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico agreed to the broad outlines of a trade deal with the U.S. last week.

According to media reports, President Donald Trump may also announce new tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods as early as this week.

VERA GOOD: Clothing and accessories retailer Vera Bradley jumped after it posted strong results in the second quarter and raised its profit forecast for the year. The company said fewer items were marked down, which improved its profit margins. The stock climbed 16.5 percent to $16.65.

Furniture and housewares maker RH fell 7.9 percent to $144.35 after its second-quarter sales came up short of analysts' projections.

JD DOWN AGAIN: Chinese internet retailer JD.com dropped another 6.5 percent to $27.51 after a Minneapolis police report showed company founder and CEO Richard Liu was arrested over a felony rape accusation.

The stock fell 6 percent Tuesday, the first trading day after Liu's arrest was reported. JD.com said Sunday that police found no misconduct, and the company also says Liu has returned to China.

ENERGY: Oil prices and dipped as Tropical Storm Gordon changed course and headed east, reducing the risk it will disrupt oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Benchmark U.S. crude declined 1.6 percent to $68.78 per barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 0.5 percent to $77.77ˆ per barrel in London.

Energy companies also lost ground. Chevron fell 1.1 percent to $117.59 and Schlumberger gave up 1.8 percent to $60.80.

BONDS: Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained at 2.90 percent.

Banks continued to do better than the rest of the market after a big jump in interest rates on Tuesday. Lincoln National gained 1.8 percent to $67.04 and Capital One Financial rose 0.9 percent to $100.68.

CURRENCY: The dollar rose to 111.68 yen from 111.48 yen. The euro rose to $1.1625 from $1.1581.

OVERSEAS TRADING: The French CAC 40 fell 1.1 percent while Germany's DAX lost 0.8 percent. In London the FTSE 100 shed 0.9 percent.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 retreated 0.5 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 2.6 percent. Seoul's Kospi declined 1 percent.

____

AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay