US open: Stocks trade lower following disappointing data out of China

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the red early on Monday following some disappointing data out of China.

As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.11% at 33,723.48, while the S&P 500 was 0.26% weaker at 4,269.12 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.22% softer at 13,018.49.

The Dow opened 37.57 points lower on Monday, taking a small bite out of gains recorded in the previous session.

This week's focus will be on retailers, with earnings from the likes of Home Depot, Walmart, and Target all scheduled for release later in the week, and July retail sales data set for publication on Wednesday.

Headlines out of China were also drawing an amount of investor attention early on Monday, with China's central bank unexpectedly cutting a major interest rate in an attempt to bolster an economy that has struggled to grow amid repeated Covid-19 lockdowns and a property downturn.

The People's Bank of China trimmed its medium-term lending rate by 10 basis points to 2.75%, while official data also showed consumer and factory activity was weaker than forecast as the pace of the country's economic recovery continued to be sluggish.

On the macro front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's regional manufacturing index missed economists' forecasts by a wide margin as gauges for new orders and shipments cratered.

The headline index fell from a reading of 11.1 for July to -31.3, well and truly missing expectations for a reading of 5.0. In parallel, the sub-index linked to new orders fell from 6.2 to -29.6 and that for shipments from 25.3 to -24.1.

Elsewhere, the National Association of Houesbuilder's housing market index fell for an eighth straight month to 49 in August, its lowest reading since May 2020 and well and truly short of expectations for a print of 55.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Monday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $124.01 2.00%
Visa Inc. (V) $213.40 0.98%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $147.98 0.89%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $166.32 0.62%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $249.68 0.52%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $63.98 0.44%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $262.65 0.18%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.22 0.16%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $40.65 0.15%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $544.00 0.06%