U.S. stock markets opened the week with a slight downturn as investors reacted to the latest trade threats from President Donald Trump and braced for key economic data and corporate earnings later this week, AFP reported.

Trump issued fresh warnings about imposing 30% tariffs on imports from the European Union and Mexico if a trade agreement is not reached by August 1. Despite this, markets have largely shrugged off his trade rhetoric so far, anticipating a potential compromise.

About ten minutes into the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1% at 44,331.89 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 6,250.55, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.1% to 20,566.42.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recently hit record highs, as investors bet on a resilient U.S. macroeconomic outlook and potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve later this year.

In addition to ongoing trade negotiations, investors this week will closely watch July consumer inflation data and earnings reports from major U.S. banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. | BGNES