US stocks open lower as massive selloff continues

ANKARA

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.