Wall Street mixed after Mexico tariff response

US stocks were mixed shortly after opening bell in the wake of Mexico’s plans to levy retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of US agricultural imports in response to the White House imposing duties on steel and aluminium imports from its southern neighbour.

Concerns the Trump administration’s decision last week — to levy duties on those metals imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico from Friday — rattled markets and reignited concerns the tiff could spill over into a broader trade war.

The S&P 500 was fractionally higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 0.8 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.2 per cent, as major technology stocks continued to climb.

Shares in companies that last Thursday were shaken by the White House’s plans, were mixed this morning. Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman and Tyson Foods were higher, while Kellogg and Pilgrim’s Pride were down.

The US dollar gained 1.3 per cent against the Mexican currency and fetched 20.3525 pesos at pixel time. The buck strengthened 0.7 per cent against its Canadian counterpart, and bought C$1.3014.

US Treasuries initially rallied as yields fell, but the short- and long-end of the market soon found themselves pulled in opposite directions. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was down 1.7 basis points at 2.9204 per cent, while that on the two-year Treasury was flat at 2.508 per cent. Yields move inversely to price.