US stocks dip on tough Trump trade talk

New York -Wall Street stocks finished slightly lower on Monday as the new US President Donald Trump signalled he would take a tough line on international trade.

Trump's first order of business Monday was to sign an executive order officially withdrawing from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trump also has also announced plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and his chief spokesman said the new president would not hesitate to confront China over the South China Sea.

US stocks rallied hard after Trump's surprise election win in the hopes he would lower taxes and reduce regulation, a promise he renewed on Monday. But markets have been worried the tough talk could lead to a trade war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1% to close at 19 799.85.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.3% to 2 265.20, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped less than 0.1% to 5 552.94.

Qualcomm plunged 12.7% following news it was sued by Apple for abusing its market power to demand unfair royalties, echoing charges filed days earlier by US antitrust regulators.

Qualcomm rejected the claims and said Apple was mischaracterising its practices.

Aetna dropped 2.7% and Humana gained 2.2% after a US judge blocked Aetna's proposed $37bn takeover of its rival on antitrust grounds.

Aetna would be forced to pay Humana $1bn if the deal dies.

McDonald's shed 0.7% after reporting a slight dip in fourth-quarter earnings following 1.3% drop in US comparable sales. Sales in China, Japan and some other overseas markets offset the decline.

Energy shares were generally in retreat with lower oil prices, along with most pharmaceutical stocks. But some technology stocks pushed higher, including Google parent Alphabet, Facebook and Tesla Motors.