['DATE | 2016', 'DATE | Thursday', 'LOC | China', 'LOC | Philadelphia', 'LOC | U.S.', 'LOC | U.S.', 'stockChange | lower']
U.S. stock benchmarks opened lower Thursday as investors awaited the start of a fresh round of talks on trade between the U.S. and China and as a mixed bag of data, with a focus on the first negative reading of Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity since 2016, caused a pause in buying.