Investing.com - Wall Street was lower at the open on Tuesday, pressured by concerns over the latest round of tariff hikes in the U.S.-China trade war and reports that the two sides were struggling to decide on the schedule for talks.
The Dow was down 260 points, or 1.0%, by 9:45 AM ET (13:45 GMT), while the S&P 500 fell 19 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite was off 36 points, or 0.5%.
The U.S. on Sunday began imposing 15% tariffs on more than $125 billion in Chinese imports. Meanwhile, China began imposing new duties on U.S. imports including crude oil, and on Monday filed a formal complaint over the U.S. tariffs at the World Trade Organization.
Although U.S. President Donald Trump has said both sides would still meet for talks later this month, Bloomberg reported on Monday that they had yet to agree on a date for the planned meeting.
Trump pressured China to make a deal on Tuesday, warning that negotiations will become more difficult if he is reelected in 2020.
Shares of trade-sensitive industrial bellwether Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) fell 1.7% in early trading, while those of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 1%.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) also fell 3%, under additional pressure from weekend reports that its 737 MAX model may stay grounded until well into the holiday season.
Chipmakers, which draw a large portion of their revenue from China, also fell, with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) off between 0.4% and 1.3%.
A monthly survey on manufacturing activity by the Institute for Supply Management, due at 10 a.m. ET, is expected to shed some light on the impact of the trade war on the U.S. industrial sector.
Outside of equities, the U.S. dollar index was up 0.4% to 99.22, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury was last trading at 1.49%, still below the yield on the two-year note.
In commodities, gold futures were up $16.35, or 1.08%, at $1,545.8 a troy ounce, while crude oil was down $2.02, or 3.6%, to $53.14 a barrel.
-- Reuters contributed to this report