US stocks trade weaker on disappointing earnings, US-China trade tensions

Major US equity indices opened lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) on track for the fifth consecutive day of declines. 

The latest round of disappointing earnings coupled with uncertainty around the ongoing US-China trade negotiations weighed on sentiment and kept investors on the sidelines during the early hour of trade.

Meanwhile, the latest FOMC monetary policy update, wherein the central bank acknowledged that inflation is ticking higher, now seems to have raised prospects for a steeper policy tightening path and was eventually denting investors’ appetite for riskier assets - like equities. 

On the economic data front, both the initial weekly jobless claims and trade deficit data bettered market expectations but was largely offset by weaker-than-expected ISM non-manufacturing PMI and hence, did little to inspire the bulls. 

At the time of writing this report, DJIA was down nearly 170-points to 23,765 and the broader S&P 500 Index retreated around 15-points to 2,620. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost over 20-points and slipped farther below the 7,100 mark.