By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks looked set to open lower on Monday, amid uncertainty following President Donald Trump’s orders to curb travel and immigration from certain countries.

Trump on Friday signed executive orders to bar admission of Syrian refugees and suspend travel to the United States from Syria, Iraq, Iran and four other countries on the grounds of national security.

Thousands of people rallied in major U.S. cities and at airports in protest, while several countries including long-standing American allies criticized the measures as discriminatory and divisive.

The promise of tax cuts and simpler regulations had lured investors into equity markets since Trump’s election in November, but some are worried about the potential risk of his protectionist policies.

The pullback in futures suggests that the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> could fall below the 20,000 mark it hit for the first time ever on Wednesday.

“A new week of trading is getting off on a sour note, as key macro news, Fed action, international and domestic backlash over Trump’s immigration stand are putting investors on the defense,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial, wrote in a note.

“We look for a bumpy to negative ride as the ‘Worry Trade’ rules the day.”

Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 70 points, or 0.35 percent, at 8:32 a.m. ET (1332 GMT), with 21,512 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 9.25 points, or 0.4 percent, with 128,685 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 21.5 points, or 0.42 percent, on volume of 22,585 contracts.

A report from the U.S. Commerce Department showed consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased 0.5 percent after a 0.2 percent gain in November.

Shares of big technology companies Microsoft <MSFT.O>, Alphabet <GOOGL.O> and Netflix <NFLX.O> were down between 0.60 percent and 0.90 percent in premarket trading on Monday. Apple <AAPL.O> and Facebook <FB.O>, which are scheduled to report results this week, were also lower.

Tempur Sealy <TPX.N> dropped 26 percent to $46.70 after the company said it terminated its contracts with mattress retailer Mattress Firm following disagreements over changes in their contracts.

Data technology company Ixia <XXIA.O> rose 5.8 percent to $19.25 after Keysight Technologies <KEYS.N> said it would buy the company for about $1.6 billion.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)