US stocks subdued amid lingering trade-war fears

Major US equity indices witnessed a mixed opening on Thursday as investors remained concerned over a possible global trade-war.

After last week's move to implement tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, the US President Donald Trump's plan to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods is now feared to trigger a full-blown trade war and continued denting investors' confidence. 

On the economic data front, Thursday release of weekly jobless claims and regional manufacturing indices indicated the underlying strength in the economy but did little to provide any meaningful impetus during the early hour of trading. 

At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up nearly 25-points to 24,781, while the S&P 500 Index held near break-even levels, around 2,750. Meanwhile, tech-heavy underperformed the broader markets and fell over 15-points to 7,481.