Stocks Opened Lower amid Tariff Delay Report

U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday as investors digested a report that the U.S. and China are looking to delay tariffs set to go into effect Sunday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately retreated 44.86 points, or 0.16%, to 27,864.74. The S&P 500 edged lower 3.31 points, or 0.11%, to 3,132.65. The Nasdaq Composite was down 4.31 points, or 0.05%, to 8,617.52.

Oil futures were slightly lower early Tuesday, but off overnight lows, after a report from the Wall Street Journal that was being perceived as upbeat in long-running negotiations between the U.S. and China on tariffs. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery were off 16 cents, or 0.3%, at $58.86 a barrel. February Brent crude shed 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $64.13 a barrel.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. and China are working to delay the fresh round of U.S. tariffs scheduled to take effect Sunday. According to officials on both sides, the U.S. and China are hinting that trade negotiations could extend past the Dec. 15, as they work to get Beijing to commit to Trump’s agricultural purchase terms.

Growth of U.S. labor costs was not as robust as initially thought in the third quarter, suggesting inflation could remain tame for a while.Unit labor costs, the price of labor per single unit of output, increased at a 2.5% annualized rate in the third quarter.