US Stocks Open Lower                   12/10 09:46

   Stocks slipped on Wall Street in early trading Tuesday as investors 
considered reports that the U.S. will delay a new round of tariffs on Chinese 
goods as the nations continue negotiating a trade deal.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks slipped on Wall Street in early trading Tuesday as 
investors considered reports that the U.S. will delay a new round of tariffs on 
Chinese goods as the nations continue negotiating a trade deal.

   The proposed tariffs scheduled to begin on Sunday threaten to hit U.S. 
consumers particularly hard by raising the prices of popular products including 
cellphones and laptops.

   Both nations have been working toward a limited "phase 1" deal that Wall 
Street hopes can lead to an eventual long-term resolution.

   Banks broadly fell in the early going, though bond prices remained mostly 
stable. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was unchanged at 1.83% from late 
Monday.

   Communications companies suffered some of the largest declines. Comcast fell 
2% and Netflix fell 1.3%.

   Technology companies held up better than the rest of the market. Micron rose 
1.9%.

   KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index fell 0.1% as of 9:52 a.m. Eastern time. The 
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54 points, or 0.2%, to 27,852. The Nasdaq was 
unchanged. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks fell 0.1%.

   European markets fell and Asian markets were mixed. 

   TRADE WOES: It's been a volatile month so far for trade relations as the 
U.S. and China stay mostly quiet on their latest push for a deal. China helped 
ease some of the tension last week when it made the conciliatory gesture of 
planning to waive tariffs on American soybeans and pork, which have been 
hurting American farmers.

   Wall Street was rattled early last week when President Donald Trump said 
that a deal could possibly wait until after the 2020 elections. The 
longstanding trade war has been hanging over U.S. businesses and prompting them 
to hold back on spending and other investments. It also continues to threaten 
economic growth, which is being propped up by consumer spending and a strong 
jobs market.

   LATE EARNINGS LIFT: Earnings season is essentially over but several smaller 
companies are getting a lift from late reports. Vail Resorts rose 3.5% after 
the ski resort company's fiscal first-quarter results beat forecasts. Online 
clothing styling service Stitch Fix surged 9.5% and auto parts retailer 
AutoZone rose 5.8% after reporting surprisingly good results. 


(AG)