US open: Stocks skid after disappointing economic data

US equities edged lower early on Tuesday, as they extended the decline from the previous session after some uninspiring data.

Shortly before 1500 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 21 points to 17,709.77, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were three and 30 points lower respectively.

On the economic data front, import prices declined 0.5% month-on-month compared with a downwardly revised 0.6% drop in September and with analysts’ expectations for 0.1% fall.

On a year-on-year basis, import prices tumbled 10.5%, compared with a downwardly revised 11.3% fall in the previous month and with analysts’ expectations for a 9.4% drop.

"We expect import prices to decline further over the medium term as the effects of past dollar appreciation continue to weigh on prices," said analysts at Barclays.

"In addition, we believe that weakness in emerging Asia, especially China, is likely to push down import prices over and above any effect from the appreciation of the dollar."

The National Federation of Independent Business said its gauge of small business optimism held steady at 96.1 in October, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 96.5 reading and below the long-term average of 98.

Selling prices rose a point to +2, remaining much higher than implied by the very low level of gas prices, which usually greatly influence the number.

"Stripping out the gas price effect, we reckon the selling price number is consistent with core CPI inflation breaching the 2% mark early next year," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Still to come, figures on September wholesale inventories are released at 1500 GMT.

In company news, cloud computing group Rackspace Hosting surged 8.12% after posting better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue late on Monday.

Synchrony Financial declined 4% after saying late on Monday that it will replace Genworth Financial in the S&P 500 from 17 November, while Chipotle climbed 1.64% after announcing it will reopen all the 43 restaurants that were closed amid an E-coli outbreak last week.

Home retailer Wayfair gained 0.46% as its sales beat expectations and its quarterly loss shrunk, while Apple slid 2.47% after a Credit Suisse report warned of weak demand for its iPhone 6.

Elsewhere, most Asian markets declined, as worries over a slowdown in China intensified after another poor set of economic data, although Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average gained for the fifth consecutive session.

European equities were trading mostly lower, while oil prices slid, with West Texas Intermediate losing 0.39% to $43.70 a barrel, while Brent shed 0.23% to $47.08 a barrel.

The dollar gained 0.24% and 0.68% against the yen and the euro respectively but was broadly flat against the pound, while gold futures fell 0.53% to $1,086.48.