Stocks Open Lower After China Stock Drop
By MADLEN READ
NEW YORK – Wall Street retreated Monday, as U.S. investors shuddered at a sharp decline in Chinese stock prices.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plummeted 8.3 percent, its biggest one-day drop since the Feb. 27 plunge that set off a brief global market selloff. The Chinese government has been trying to cool the country’s market boom, causing the stock index to fall 15 percent since a record high last Tuesday.
Investors were also wary ahead of the Commerce Department’s report on April factory orders, which could provide some clues to whether the economy is bouncing back from its slowdown, and if it’s recovering so fast that the Federal Reserve will be disinclined to lower interest rates later in the year. The report is due for release at 10 a.m. EDT, and is expected to show a rise of 0.7 percent after a 3.1 percent jump in March.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 32 points at the 13,635 level in the opening minutes of trading..
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