US stocks edge lower on German data, Iraq

New York - US stocks on Tuesday opened lower as investors weighed disappointing German economic data.

Just a short while into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 12.29 points (0.07%) to 16 557.69.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 2.27 (0.12%) to 1 934.65, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 4.70 (0.11%) 4 396.53.

The US economic calendar has no major releases on Tuesday, but a reading on German investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute fell by 18.5 points to 8.6 points in August, its lowest level since December 2012.

It was the eighth month in a row that the market showed a decline in Europe's largest economy and the sharpest since June 2012.