US STOCKS-Wall St drops on Trump's trade comments, weak consumer data

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* Sept consumer confidence data weaker than expected
* Retail stocks, Amazon.com fall after data
* Energy sector slips 1% as oil prices fall
* Indexes down: Dow 0.05%, S&P 0.19%, Nasdaq 0.65%

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By Ambar Warrick and Arjun Panchadar
Sept 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, after
President Donald Trump delivered a stinging rebuke to China's
trade practices, while disappointing consumer confidence data
raised concerns over the impact of a prolonged trade war between
the two nations.
Trump said he would not accept a "bad deal" in the trade
negotiations and that Beijing had failed to keep promises that
it made when China joined the World Trade Organization.
"The economic data cut the rally in half at 10 and the tone
towards China (at) President Trump's speech at the U.N. General
assembly certainly took some of the optimism out of the air,"
said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities
in New York.
Wall Street's major indexes opened higher on positive
comments on trade talks from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
but slipped after data showed that U.S. consumer confidence for
September fell by the most in nine months, to a reading of
125.1, well below economists' expectations of 133.5.
The retail index .SPXRT slipped 0.6%, while a 1.2% drop in
ecommerce giant Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O was the biggest drag on
the S&P 500 .SPX the Nasdaq .IXIC .
The report is a bit of a concern, said Everett Millman,
precious metals specialist at Gainesville Coins in Lutz,
Florida, especially as "consumer confidence has been pretty high
at least in the U.S."
Investors will now look to other data due later this week,
including the Fed's preferred gauge for inflation, for more
clues on the strength of the U.S. economy.
At 12:17 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 12.19 points, or 0.05%, at 26,937.80, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 5.72 points, or 0.19%, at 2,986.06. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 52.48 points, or 0.65%, at 8,059.98.
Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the
energy sector .SPNY down 1.13%, tracking a drop in oil prices.
O/R
Only the defensive consumer staples .SPLRCS , utilities
.SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR were higher.
Apple Inc AAPL.O was a bright spot, gaining 0.4% after
Jefferies assumed coverage with a "buy" rating and highlighted
the iPhone maker's 5G potential.
Video streaming platform Netflix Inc NFLX.O dropped 3.4%
to a near nine-month low after Pivotal Research cut its price
target.
Nike Inc NKE.N fell 0.4%, ahead of the world's largest
sportswear maker's first-quarter results after the bell.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.31-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.42-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and 68 new lows.