Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday, with the Dow down more than 170 points as disappointing data out of the U.S. and China exacerbated fears over the impact of the U.S.-China trade war on the outlook for the global economy.
The Dow Jones dropped 172 points, or 0.7%, to 25,363.57 points by 9:43 AM ET (13:43 GMT), while the S&P 500 was down 15 points, or 0.6%, to 2,817.12 points and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite shed 39 points, or 0.5%, at 7,700.56 points.
The losses suggest that fear has regained the upper hand, after a bounce on Tuesday when concerns over the escalating trade war briefly subsided.
U.S. President Donald Trump denied that talks between the two sides had broken down. "We have a dialogue going. It will always continue," said Trump, who has already announced plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at a G20 summit late next month.
U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.2% in April, which could dent hopes for a rebound in consumer spending after a weak first quarter.
A separate report showed that output at U.S. manufacturing companies decreased by 0.5% last month.
The reports came after Chinese data overnight showed growth in retail sales and industrial output slowed unexpectedly in April, indicating that the economy was already losing momentum before the Trump administration hiked U.S. import tariffs on Friday.
In earnings news, Macy’s shares were up more than 1% after it reported first-quarter earnings that handily beat analysts’ expectations. The retailer also reaffirmed its profit outlook for the full year.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA)'s ADRs rose after the company reported that first-quarter revenue beat estimates, boosted by growth in its core e-commerce and cloud computing businesses.
Shares of ride-hailing companies Uber (NYSE:UBER) and peer Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) were higher, gaining 1.1% and 2.8% respectively.
Outside of equities, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, advanced to 97.458 due largely to a slump in sterling, while the yield on the 2-year Treasury fell to 2.15%, its lowest since February last year.
In commodities, gold futures were up $2.45, or 0.2%, at $1,298.75 a troy ounce, while crude oil traded down 65 cents, or 1.05%, to $61.13 a barrel ahead of U.S. government data on inventories later in the trading day.