Weak China data, European banks hit US stocks

Wall Street stocks opened solidly lower Tuesday, taking cues from international equity markets that retreated on weak Chinese manufacturing data and poor European bank earnings.

Chinese factory activity fell by 0.3 point to 49.4 in April, according to the private Caixin survey of purchasing managers, further below the 50 level that separates growth from contraction.

European bank shares were mostly lower following disappointing results from German titan Commerzbank and Swiss lender UBS. US names such as Citigroup and Bank of America both fell more than two percent.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.7 percent at 17,763.95.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent to 2,067.52, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.7 percent at 4,786.05.