US STOCKS-Wall Street drops as turmoil in Washington outweighs trade optimism

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* Trump sought foreign meddling in 2020 election - Report
* Beyond Meat shares surge on McDonald's tie-up
* Facebook dips on report of antitrust investigation
* Indexes down: Dow 0.04%, S&P 0.23%, Nasdaq 0.48%

(Updates to open)
By Ambar Warrick and Medha Singh
Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes dipped on Thursday as
fresh developments in an inquiry into the impeachment of
President Donald Trump offset gains from trade-related optimism
fueled by upbeat comments from China.
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee released a
declassified version of a whistleblower report alleging that
Trump used his office to solicit interference in the 2020
presidential election from a foreign country. The report is seen
as central to the impeachment inquiry. "We need something like a trade deal to get through. Without
that we are just going to bounce around here where if you get
some bad political news, it sells off," said Kim Forrest, Chief
investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.
Beijing said earlier on Thursday it was in close
communication with the United States and was preparing to make
progress with their trade talks in October. Facebook Inc FB.O slipped 1.7% as a person familiar with
the matter told Reuters that the U.S. Justice Department will
open an antitrust investigation of the social media company.
Facebook's shares pulled the communication services
.SPLRCS sector down 0.71%.
The steady dividend paying-paying sectors - consumer staples
.SPLRCS , utilities .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR - were
leading gains among the 11 major S&P sectors.
The three, widely regarded as defensive plays, are also the
best performing S&P sectors this quarter.
At 10:00 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 10.98 points, or 0.04%, at 26,959.73, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 6.94 points, or 0.23%, at 2,977.93. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 39.05 points, or 0.48%, at 8,038.33.
Leisure cruise operator Carnival Corp CCL.N dropped 7.8%,
set for its worst day in six months after it cut its full-year
profit forecast for the third time on the back of higher fuel
prices. Shares in one of this year's market success stories, Beyond
Meat BYND.O , jumped 10.3% as it added McDonald's Corp MCD.N
to a growing list of clients for its plant-based patties.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.30-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.54-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 16 new highs and 35 new lows.