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* China warns of counter measures against the U.S.
* PG&E down after U.S. Judge sides with wildfire victims
* U.S. stock markets to shut at 1 p.m. ET
* Indexes off: Dow 0.2%, S&P 0.13%, Nasdaq 0.1%
(Updates to open)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped on Friday as trade
tensions resurfaced after China warned it would retaliate
against President Donald Trump's decision to ratify a bill
backing protesters in Hong Kong.
China's counter measures could include barring drafters of
the legislation from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the
editor of China's state-backed Global Times tabloid said in a
tweet. The trade-sensitive Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX
fell as much as 0.8% and was on track for its worst day in a
week.
The standoff also knocked Wall Street's main indexes off
record highs. They had closed at all-time highs in every session
so far this week on upbeat domestic data and hopes of an
imminent "phase one" trade deal.
"It is definitely a concern that the signing of the Hong
Kong bill will be seen as an impediment to an agreement," said
Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon,
New Jersey.
"At this point, investors are also using this as an
opportunity to take some profits."
A largely better-than-expected third-quarter earnings season
and a dovish stance on interest rates by the Federal Reserve
have also fuelled the stocks rally this month.
But more widely, the tariff war between the world's top two
economies has dented business sentiment and become the biggest
risk to global economic growth. The next round of U.S. tariffs
is due to take effect on Dec. 15.
At 10:19 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 56.67 points, or 0.2%, at 28,107.33, while the S&P 500
.SPX was down 4.08 points, or 0.13%, at 3,149.55. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 9 points, or 0.1%, at 8,696.18.
Trading volumes are expected to be light as the stock market
closes early on Friday, after a midweek holiday for Thanksgiving
Shares of PG&E Corp PCG.N fell 1.6% after a report that a
U.S. bankruptcy judge sided with wildfire victims and said the
company was subject to a doctrine known as "inverse
condemnation" that holds utilities liable for covering the costs
of wildfires. Tech Data Corp TECD.O jumped 12% as private equity firm
Apollo Global Management APO.N raised its bid for the U.S.
information technology equipment distributor to about $5.14
billion. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.33-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 1.21-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P
index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the
Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 17 new lows.