Stocks Opened Lower as Investors Assessed Trump’s Policies

U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday, as investors assessed the potential impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest moves. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately dipped 38.70 points, or 0.18%, to 20,915.64. The S&P 500 lost 6.92 points, or 0.29%, to 2,368.39. The Nasdaq Composite fell 15.23 points, or 0.26%, to 5,833.95.

The U.S. chalked up its largest trade deficit since March 2012 as a jump in merchandise imports in January exceeded a smaller gain in shipments overseas. The gap in goods and services trade increased by 9.6 percent to $48.5 billion, matching the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey, Commerce Department figures showed Tuesday.

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday, trading in a tight range as rising U.S. shale output offset OPEC crude production cuts. Brent crude was up 18 cents at $56.19 a barrel as of 1155 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 20 cents at $53.40.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is buying the flash-storage company Nimble Storage for $12.50 a share, or about $1 billion. HPE will also assume or pay out Nimble’s unvested equity awards, which are worth about $200 million. The cash part of the deal represents about a 45% premium to Nimble’s closing price on Monday.