US open: China's new tariffs send stocks south at the bell

US stocks opened weaker on Wednesday as investors weighed up the latest trade developments between the US and China.

At 1540 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.23% to 25,570.83, while the S&P 500 was losing 0.13% to 2,854.75 and the Nasdaq was 0.12% weaker to 7,874.01.

SpreadEx's Connor Campbell, said, "The Dow avoided a major decline after the bell, dipping 0.2% to duck back under 25,600. That its losses weren't larger is notable given that Beijing unleashed a classic trade war tit-for-tat this Wednesday."

Trade war concerns remained at the forefront of investors' minds after the US said that it will start collecting 25% tariffs on $16bn-worth of Chinese imports from 23 August.

Lukman Otunuga, a research analyst at FXTM, said, "Fears of a full-blown trade war between the world's two biggest economies are set to intensify after the Trump administration announced another round of tariffs on Chinese products on Tuesday.

"With Beijing expected to fight back by targeting $16bn worth of US goods with equal tariffs, the US-China trade saga could get even messier."

Market participants were also digesting trade balance data from China, which showed that exports rose at a year-on-year clip of 12.2% in July, up from 11.2% during the month before and beating expectations for a jump of 10%. Import growth on the other hand accelerated to a pace of 27.3% year-on-year, versus a 14.1% rise in June and ahead of analysts' forecasts for a 16.2% increase.

Meanwhile, China's surplus with the US shrank a touch to $28.09bn last month from a record $28.97bn in June.

In corporate news, shares in CVS Health were trading 3.56% higher after the release of its second-quarter earnings as it upped its 2018 earnings per share guidance range to $6.98-$7.08 from $6.87-$7.08.

Michael Kors picked up 5.78% at the open as the luxury fashion company's first-quarter profit and sales beat analysts' expectations and it lifted its full-year outlook.

Electric car maker Tesla dipped 0.53% after Elon Musk tweeted on Tuesday that he was considering taking the company private, sending the shares up 11%.

Elsewhere, Walt Disney was down 1.36% after its quarterly earnings a day earlier missed analysts' expectations, while Match.com was 13.35% higher after the dating website's second-quarter earnings and revenue topped estimates.