Market: Stocks decline on U.S.-China trade tensions

US stock market opened lower today as seen from major index futures as traders are keeping a close watch on the trade talks between U.S. and China for avoiding a probable trade war. Also, the dollar declined against most major currencies. Treasury yields fell on Thursday as the Federal Reserve pointed to higher inflation in the recent meeting.

The S&P 500 index dipped 1.27% to 2,602.26, Dow 30 fell 1.36% to 23,599.17, and Nasdaq declined 1.31% to 7,007.75 at 11:05 AM ET. Elsewhere, shares at Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, and European stocks are trading lower.

On May 2, US ended lower, with Dow down 0.7% to 23,924.98. Nasdaq inched down 0.4% to 7,100.90, and the S&P 500 slid 0.7% to 2,635.67.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department report showed a narrower trade deficit for the month of March. The trade deficit narrowed to $49 billion in March from $57.7 billion in February. The value of exports climbed up by 2% to $208.5 billion, while the value of imports fell by 1.8% to $257.5 billion.

A Labor Department report showed that initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 211,000 in the week ended April 28 from last week’s 209,000. Another Labor Department report revealed that labor productivity increased by 0.7% in the first quarter after rising 0.3% in the fourth quarter, and unit labor costs grew by 2.7% in the first quarter after rising 2.1% in the fourth quarter.

After announcing their earnings results today, DowDuPont (DWDP) stock inched down 0.7% despite upbeat first-quarter results at 10:30 AM ET. Blue Apron Holdings (APRN) stock grew 3.6% after a smaller loss in the first quarter. Shares of Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) stayed flat after better-than-expected first-quarter results.

Today’s notable after-market earnings announcements include: GoPro (GPRO), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), CBS Corp. (CBS), Xerox (XRX), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Motorola Solutions (MSI), Weight Watchers International (WTW), Pandora (P), Consolidated Edison (ED), DaVita HealthCare Partners (DVA), and Teradata (TDC).

Crude oil future is down 0.63% to $67.50. Gold is trading up 0.74% to $1,315.30 and silver is up 0.92% to $16.52. On the currency front, the US dollar is trading down 0.58% at 109.193 yen. Against the euro, the dollar is up 0.07% to $1.1964. Against the pound, the dollar is down 0.02% to $1.3572.