US stocks open slightly lower as focus turns to earnings reports

US stocks slipped in early trading today, as the recent rally linked to the positive progress in the US-China trade started to lose steam, while the focus turned to corporate earnings reports.

Despite the retreat, the main stocks indices remain near their all-time record highs.

Meanwhile, Uber Technologies showed an unexpected loss during the third quarter this year by more than $1 billion after a loss of about $5.24 billion in Q2, which raised concerns over the company's profitability.

Currently the markets are eagerly anticipating the signing of the first phase trade deal between the US and China, as the two countries are engaged in intensive calls to choose the location and date of meeting.

Turning to stocks, Dow fell by 0.1% or 16 points to 27,476 as of 14:55 GMT, Nasdaq fell by 0.2% or 21 points to 8,414, and S&P 500 fell by 0.1% or 2 points to 3,072.