Wall Street stocks end down as Tesla slumps 14% on Trump-Musk feud

Wall Street's stock indexes ended lower on Thursday in choppy trade as a slump in Tesla shares offset news of progress in tariff talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Shares of electric car-maker Tesla dropped more than 14% in heavy trading as the public feud between CEO Elon Musk and Trump intensified. The stock has fallen four out of the last five sessions. The company lost about $150 billion in value after Trump and Musk began their verbal war.

Musk has stepped up criticism of the president's massive tax legislation in recent days, while Trump alleged Musk was upset because the bill takes away tax benefits for electric vehicle purchases.

"The fallout for Tesla stock is self-evident," said Mark Spiegel, portfolio manager at Stanphyl Capital.

"I see no meaningful fallout from this for the rest of the market, other than its slight effect on the indexes and index funds. The overall stock market has plenty of problems, but Tesla isn't one of them."

Investors focused earlier on news that Trump and the Chinese leader had invited each other to their respective countries for visits as shown in U.S. and Chinese summaries of their phone call on Thursday.

Dispute over critical minerals

A recent dispute over critical minerals had threatened to tear up a fragile trade truce between the two biggest economies.

"Recent market moves are further indication that with economic policy shifts, and higher geopolitical and headline sensitivity, equity markets will be characterized by greater volatility and velocity than in the previous cycle," said Katherine Bordlemay, co-head of Americas client portfolio management for fundamental equities at GSAM.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 108.00 points, or 0.25%, to end at 42,319.74. The S&P 500 lost 31.51 points, or 0.53%, at 5,939.30 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 162.04 points, or 0.83%, to 19,298.45.

Weaker-than-expected U.S. private payrolls and services sector data on Wednesday raised concerns about an economic slowdown caused by trade uncertainties, with investors focusing squarely on Friday's nonfarm payrolls report.