US stocks down at opening to begin September

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US stocks were down at the opening bell Thursday to begin September.

The Dow fell 161 points, or 0.51%, to 31,350 at 9.40 a.m. EDT. The blue-chip index lost 4.1% in August.

The S&P 500 was off 19 points, or 0.49%, to 3,934 shortly after the opening bell, it fell 4.2% last month.

The Nasdaq lost 80 points, or 0.68%, to start September at 11,734, as the tech-heavy index plummeted 4.6% during August.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, rose 2.6% to 26.54. The 10-year US Treasury yield jumped 3.4% to 3.240%.

While the dollar index added 0.6% to 109.36, the euro was down 0.7% to $0.9983 against the dollar.

Precious metals continued their decline, with gold falling 0.8% to $1,697 and silver plummeting 1.4% to $17.74.

Oil prices were down almost 2%. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading at $93.88 a barrel for a 1.8% decline, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was around $87.81– a 1.9% loss.