US stock market opens lower

NEW YORK (AA) - The stock market opened lower Thursday as investors turned cautious about President-elect Donald Trump's border tax policies.

The Dow fell 26 points to begin trading at 19,928. The S&P 500 declined five points to 2,270.

The Nasdaq decreased 21 points to open at 5,542.

Trump said Wednesday that he would impose higher border taxes on firms that choose to carry their operations to Mexico and elsewhere.

Mexico is one of the biggest trading partners of the U.S., along with Canada.

Investors have taken caution against Trump's border tax policies, which could hinder the level of growth in American economy, according to some experts.

Oil prices, on the other hand, continued to increase as reports from Saudi Arabia and Russia suggest that two of the world's biggest oil producers are trimming their output level, and glut of global oil supply is set to gradually decline.

At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $53.32 a barrel with a 2 percent gain. International benchmark Brent crude was at $56.23 per barrel -- a 0.7 percent rise.