The Dow average on Friday headed lower at the open along with the rest of the major indexes after a report surfaced indicating that China was ready to take retaliatory measures in its lasting tariff conflict with the U.S.

A report from the Chinese ministry indicated that it was preparing to raise tariffs in two batches on $75 billion in U.S. imports on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, which would coincide with the dates that the U.S. is slated to increase import duties on some $300 billion Beijing goods.

The Dow was down 130 points, or 0.5%, at 26,118, the S&P 500 index declined 0.4% at 2,912, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, which tends to be sensitive to tariff tensions, was down 0.6% at 7,947.

Before the opening bell, stock-index futures were trading firmly higher ahead of the report on the back of comments from St. Louis Federal President James Bullard who said "insurance" rate cuts were needed to combat weakening growth outside of the U.S. The market is awaiting a highly anticipated speech from Jerome Powell on the monetary policy in Jackson Hole, Wyo., set for 10 a.m. Eastern Time. In its statement, China wrote that "US measures have led to the continuous escalation of Sino-US economic and trade frictions, which have greatly harmed the interests of China, the United States and other countries, and have also seriously threatened the multilateral trading system and the principle of free trade."

Source : MarketWatch