NEW YORK, Sept 6 — Wall Street stocks opened lower today, extending a rough patch for equities amid Federal Reserve monetary tightening and worries over a European energy crunch.
The declines come on the heels of reports on consumer confidence and manufacturing that have shown a still-solid US economy, but contributed to the “good news is bad news” narrative in markets over the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will announce more large interest rates hikes.
The difficult energy picture for Europe is also adding to pressure after Russia kept suspended natural gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline.
About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.7 per cent at 31,089.28.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.8 per cent to 3,893.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.1 per cent to 11,499.53.
Among individual companies, Signify Health rose 0.2 per cent after announcing a deal to be acquired by CVS Health for about US$8 billion. CVS dipped 0.2 per cent.
Today’s session is the first of the week after markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday. — AFP
