New York: Wall Street stocks were mostly lower early Monday as markets assessed the breakdown of US-Canada trade talks and awaited details of Washington's economic warfare against Iran.
Negotiations between Washington and Ottawa broke down late Friday, putting into force new 50-percent US tariffs and retaliatory levies from Canada.
Meanwhile, Iran responded defiantly to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's threatened "economic D-Day" against Tehran.
Bessent is holding a news conference later Monday at which he could also elaborate further on efforts to counter the rise in long-term treasury yields.
About 10 minute into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 53,357.60.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.3 percent to 7,652.12, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.7 percent to 26,009.88.
While late August is typically a slow news period for markets, "this week is setting up to be quite busy," observed Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
Other closely-watched items include US inflation data, Nvidia earnings and a speech late in the week by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at the annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
