US stocks trade weaker on reviving trade tensions, weak jobs data

Major US equity indices opened lower on the last trading day of the week, weighed down by resurfacing trade conflicts between the US and China.

The US President Donald Trump proposed to slap fresh tariffs on another $100 billion in Chinese goods. China’s commerce department responded to the latest tariff threat by saying it will respond with countermeasures if needed, reigniting fears of a full-blown trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Further denting investors' sentiment was weaker-than-expected March jobs data, coming in to show that the US economy added only 103K jobs as against previous month's upwardly revised reading of 326K and 193K expected. This coupled with not so impressive average hourly earnings growth eased concerns over aggressive Fed rate hikes and helped limit deeper losses.

Later in the day, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's scheduled speech at the Economic Club of Chicago will now be scrutinized for any fresh clues over the central bank's monetary policy outlook, which might influence sentiment surrounding riskier assets - like equities.

During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost around 100-points to 24,404 and the S&P 500 Index dropped nearly 10-points to 2,653. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped over 18-points to 7,058.