Major US equity indices opened lower on Thursday, snapping four consecutive days of winning streak to repeated record highs.
Optimism over the US-Mexico bilateral trade agreement, which was viewed as signs of progress towards avoiding a full-blown trade war, now seems to have faded and investors found few reasons to continue pushing stock prices higher.
Hopes for a rapid resolution between the NAFTA countries had been one of the key factors driving the market higher over the past few trading session, albeit the lack of progress over the ongoing trade spat between the US and China now seemed to hold investors back from placing any aggressive bullish bets.
The US tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods are expected to come into effect later next month and fears that escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies could hit global growth was seen weighing on investors sentiment.
On the economic data front, the US consumer spending climbed 0.4% and the income rose 0.3% in July. Meanwhile, the 12-month increase in the PCE index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose to 2.3% from 2.2%, marking the highest level since April 2012, but did little to provide any fresh impetus.
At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down around 65-points to 26,060, while the broader S&P 500 Index slipped over 5-points to 2,909 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost over 16-points to fall back below the 8,100 mark.
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