US stocks open lower as massive selloff continues

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices in the US stock market opened lower on Friday as the selloff from previous day's massive losses continue.

The Dow Jones was down 274 points, or 0.83%, to 32,722 at 9.34 a.m. The S&P 500 fell 45 points, or 1.1%, to 4,100 points.

The Nasdaq declined 234 points, or 1.9%, to 12,083.

The blue-chip Dow lost 1,063 points, or 3.1%, on Thursday for its worst single-day performance since 2020. On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell almost 3.6%, its second-worst day of the year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined almost 5% to end the day at 12,317.69 -- its lowest closing since November 2020.

US economy added 428,000 jobs in April, above market estimate, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6%, the Department of Labor announced earlier. The market estimate for nonfarm payrolls was to see an increase of 391,000 last month.

After the 10-year US Treasury yield jumped to as high as 3.102% on Thursday, its highest since Nov. 16, 2018, it climbed further to 3.113% when the US stock market opened.

The dollar index soared to $104.06 earlier Friday, marking the highest level since Dec. 17, 2002. It was at $103.47 for a 0.27% loss during the opening bell.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, also climbed further by adding 6.7% to 33.30.

Precious metals were mixed, with gold adding 0.1% to $1,879 but silver shedding 0.5% to $22.41.

Crude oil prices jumped more than 4% as the EU has started to impose ban on Russian crude oil imports.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading at $112.66, up 1.6%, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $109.81 – a 1.4% gain.