US stocks open mixed with falling dollar, rising volatility

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indexes in the US stock market opened mixed Monday with falling US dollar index but rising volatility.

The Dow Jones was down 104 points, or 0.3%, to 34,375 at 9.39 a.m. EDT (1339GMT) as Coca-Cola and IBM fell over 0.6% apiece.

The S&P 500 declined 6 points to 4,241 despite Tesla shares gaining 2.2%. The Nasdaq, on the other hand, increased 23 points, or 0.2%, to 14,092.

Despite falling to 15.04, its lowest level in a year, the VIX volatility index was up 4.1% to 16.29 shortly after the first bell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note was up 0.7% to 1,472%.

The US dollar index has retreated from last week's high by shedding 0.1% to 90.44, while precious metals were also on decline.

Gold fell 0.9% to $1,861 per ounce, and silver decreased 0.3% to $27,8 an ounce.

Bitcoin has started a strong daily rally by adding over 12% to $40,500 after Elon Musk said late Sunday Tesla has only sold around 10% of its Bitcoin holdings.

The CEO also said on Twitter the electric carmaker "will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions" when it is confirmed half of cryptocurrency miners would use clean energy.