US open: Stocks open lower following weak Chinese data
US stocks opened lower on Tuesday following the release of weak Chinese data overnight.
As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31% at 26,752.39, while the S&P 500 opened 0.65% weaker at 2,959.16 and the Nasdaq Composite started out the session 0.94% lower at 8,011.13.
The Dow Jones opened 83.12 points lower on Tuesday after turning in a mixed performance during the previous session, with the Dow advancing for a fourth consecutive day on the back of renewed optimism around trade talks between the US and China.
But sentiment was set to take a hit on Tuesday, with poor economic data out of China fuelling concerns of a slowdown.
China's producer price index dropped 0.8% year-on-year in August, marking its largest fall in three years.
Elsewhere, Chinese tech giant Huawei dropped a lawsuit against the US after it "landed a de facto victory" when several pieces of equipment confiscated by the government were returned to the firm.
"After a prolonged and unexplained seizure, Huawei has decided to drop the case after the US government returned the equipment, which Huawei views as a tacit admission that the seizure itself was unlawful and arbitrary," said Huawei.
On the data front, the National Federation of Independent Business' small business optimism index fell to a five-month low of 103.1 in August - down from a reading of 104.7 a month earlier and short of a consensus projection for a reading of 103.5.
Despite the drop in the headline reading, the index remained near record highs but with fears of a possible recession doing the rounds, the index was seen as a key indicator of the state of the US economy moving forward.
"In spite of the success we continue to see on Main Street, the manic predictions of recession are having a psychological effect and creating uncertainty for small business owners throughout the country," said the NFIB.
"Small business owners continue to invest, grow, and hire at historically high levels, and we see no indication of a coming recession."
Elsewhere, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for July came in at 7.21m, little changed from a downwardly revised figure of 7.24m for the previous month.
Hires edged up to roughly 6.0m and separations increased to 5.8m. Within separations, the quits rate and the layoffs and discharges rate were little changed at 2.4% and 1.2%, respectively.
In corporate news, Alphabet shares were a touch weaker in early trade after news broke that a total of 50 attorney generals were joining an antitrust probe into Google.
Apple shares were also in focus as the tech giant's product launch event kicked off at 1500 BST and Ford shares dropped 3.82% at the bell after being hit with a downgrade in its credit rating to 'junk' status by analysts at Moody's.
Video game retailer GameStop and restaurant group Dave & Busters will post results throughout the course of the day.