US open: Mixed open on the Street as trade concerns continue to mount

Wall Street trading began on a mixed note this morning as investors mulled over the latest trade rhetoric between the US and China and looked to the release of more corporate earnings.

At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.28% to 25,390.23, while the S&P 500 was trading 0.03% higher at 2,841.05 and the Nasdaq improved 0.14% to 7,824.60.

SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said, "Having put on a brave face as lunchtime approached, the markets returned to the red scenes seen just after the bell, with the Dow Jones matching Europe’s losses."

"The Dow dipped nearly 50 points as the US session got underway, a shift that took the index back to 25,400. To be honest, the Dow can count itself lucky that those losses weren’t larger, the sting taken out of the recent US-China trade war escalation as investors got distracted by Monday’s Brexit blues," added Campbell.

Investors were digesting the latest trade war rhetoric from Donald Trump over the weekend after he defended the use of tariffs at a rally in Ohio on Saturday and said he now has the upper hand over China.

In addition, Trump tweeted on Sunday that "tariffs are working big time".

On Friday, China unveiled plans to impose tariffs on $60bn worth of US imports in retaliation for the proposed increase in taxes to 25% from 10% on the $200bn of China goods bought by America every year.

IG analyst Joshua Mahony said, "While this trade war appears be showing no signs of letting up, we have now seen the lion's share of all trade between the two countries targeted with tariffs."

"Soon enough, something must give, and with the Chinese exports to the US far outweighing imports, any such breakthrough is likely to come from the Chinese side," he added.

In corporate news, shares in Newell Brands were down 8.80% despite the company's second-quarter adjusted earnings beating analysts' expectations.

SeaWorld shot up 17.4% after its quarterly revenue surpassed expectations, while Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway gained 2.57% after posting a surge in second-quarter net earnings.

Sempra Energy dipped 1.20% in early trade after announcing it had swung to a loss in the second quarter, while electric car maker Tesla ticked up 1.66% on the back of its quarterly earnings from last week.

Tyson Foods picked up 3.72% despite seeing a sales slump as a result of tariffs and auction house Sotheby's lost 4.95% after its earnings were hit by a shift in its sale schedule.

Earnings from Marriott, Etsy, Hertz Global and Weight Watchers were still to come.