Wall St opens flat as hopes of a rate cut counter trade worries

U.S. stocks opened flat on Wednesday as Washington's tough stance heightened worries of a prolonged U.S.-China trade war, with losses offset by tame inflation data that supported the case for an interest rate cut.

At 9:31 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4.04 points, or 0.02%, at 26,044.47 and the S&P 500 was down 0.91 points, or 0.03%, at 2,884.81. The Nasdaq Composite was down 16.34 points, or 0.21%, at 7,806.23.