NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks declined early Monday to open the first week of the Trump administration amid lingering anxiety over the new president's stances on international trade.
Some analysts said stock buying was limited by unease over President Donald Trump's protectionist inaugural address, which was followed up Sunday by an announcement that he would begin renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement and by news he was planning to officially walk away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Early declines are a result of "reported actions on global trade relations weighing on sentiment," according to a stock market note from Charles Schwab.
About 45 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent to 19,783.42.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent to 2,265.50, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.1 percent to 5,547.57.
McDonald's fell 0.8 percent despite reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on strong sales gains in China, Japan and other overseas markets. However, some analysts said a decline in US comparable sales was concerning.
Halliburton dropped 3.5 percent after it reported a $149 million loss in the fourth quarter, ending a dismal year in which the rout in oil prices led to a loss of nearly $6 billion. Halliburton said higher oil prices had lifted activity in North America but that "the international downward cycle is still playing out."
The earnings schedule this week includes Boeing and Google parent Alphabet.
The economic calendar includes a reading on fourth quarter US economic growth.
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