US open: Stocks decline amid disappointing Chinese trade figures

US stocks edged lower on Tuesday, as Wall Street was left unimpressed by a set of weak Chinese trade data.

Shortly before 1500 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 71 points to 17,060.71, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were seven and 12 points lower respectively.

Asian stocks were largely in the red on Tuesday, after Chinese trade data pointed to a decline in global and domestic demand.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.57%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.17% after figures showed overseas sales of Chinese goods continued to recover in September but import volumes missed economists' forecasts.

“Equity markets are lower after disappointing Chinese imports readings highlighted the economic slowdown in the country,” said IG’s market analyst David Madden.

“Natural resource stocks were the worst hit by the Chinese trade figures, and as imports have declined for eleven consecutive months it paints a very clear picture that the second largest economy in the world isn’t as hungry for commodities as it once was.”

In company news, US-listed shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and SABMiller 1.44% and 6.30% respectively after SABMiller’s board agreed on the key terms of a sweetened potential takeover offer worth £68bn.

Netflix slid 0.81% even though analysts at Nomura lifted their target price on the stock from $120 to $125, while Twitter after announcing plans to cut 8% of its global workforce in a bid to improve efficiency.

Intel, CSX and JP Morgan Chase & Co are on tap after the close.

Elsewhere, European stocks were mostly in the red, while oil prices edged lower, as West Texas Intermediate lost 0.51% to $46.86 a barrel, while Brent shed 0.63% to $49.53 a barrel.

The dollar advanced 0.87% against the pound, although it fell 0.29% and 0.21% against the yen and the euro respectively, while gold futures slid 0.12% to $1,162.49.

On the economic data front, the National Federation of Independent Business said its index of small optimism rose from 95.9 in August to 96.1 last month, beating analysts’ expectations for a 95.5 reading.

“We view the sustained upward momentum in business sentiment as an important building block toward better private investment in the US,” Barclays’ analysts said.