US: Stocks open lower amid global rout

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks opened lower Friday as the latest round of US tariffs on China overshadowed a mixed US jobs report amid a global equity selloff.

About five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3 per cent to 26,509.15.

The broad-based S&P 500 slid 0.4 per cent to 2,942.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.8 per cent to 8,805.45.

US indices lost about one percent on Thursday after President Donald Trump's surprise announcement of a 10 per cent punitive tariffs on US$300 billion in Chinese imports. Major bourses in Europe and Asia have lost more than two per cent since the announcement.

AFP