US open: Losses at the bell in first day of trading after Labor Day weekend

Wall Street trading began with losses on Tuesday as traders returned from the Labor Day holiday, focusing on any trade developments and the latest manufacturing data.

At 1520 BST, the Dow Jones was down 0.34% to 25,877.06, while the S&P 500 had lost 0.21% to 2,895.40 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.35% softer at 8,081.15.

The Dow Jones didn't exactly seem keen to return to work after the long weekend, with the benchmark falling 100 points at the bell and dropping below 25,900.

SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said: "Not only is the Dow dealing with the likelihood Donald Trump is preparing to impose tariffs on a further $200 billion of Chinese imports once the deadline for public consultation on the plan ends on Thursday – a move that will no doubt provoke a response from Beijing – the index is also suffering in the face of investors fleeing to the safety of the dollar."

On the trade front, the main focus was on US talks with Canada, after the two countries failed to reach an agreement last week, albeit with discussions set to re-start on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, over the Weekend President Trump had suggested that Canada could be left out of a deal with Mexico.

He tweeted: "There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don't make a fair deal for the US after decades of abuse, Canada will be out. Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off."

On the data front, the seasonally adjusted IHS Markit US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 54.7 in August, down from the 55.3 posted a month earlier and matching economists forecasts for the weakest reading for the gauge since November 2017.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Supply Management's August Manufacturing PMI was 61.3%, its highest level since May 2004 and an increase of 3.2% from July's reading of 58.1%.

In corporate news, Transocean shares dropped 5.04% in early trade after the company agreed to buy Ocean Rig in a cash and stock transaction valued at around $2.7bn, including the firm's debt.

Elsewhere, shares in furniture and electronics retailer Conn's tumbled 9.02% after the release of its second-quarter results while Nike dropped 2% following the announcement that NFL player and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick would be the face of its 30th anniversary 'Just Do It' campaign.