US open: Stocks slide as rising Covid-19 cases weigh on sentiment
Wall Street stocks opened sharply lower on Wednesday as new Covid-19 cases continued to rise across the US.
As of 1520 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.91% at 26,663.71, while the S&P 500 was 2.86% weaker at 3,293.60 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 2.90% softer at 11,099.27.
The Dow Jones opened 799.48 points lower on Wednesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session as an ever-increasing number of new Covid-19 cases continued to weigh on sentiment.
In focus on Wednesday, news that the number of new cases of Covid-19 across the US had risen above 70,000 yet again, according to Johns Hopkins University, taking the weekly average to a record high of more than 500,000.
Increased restrictions amid rising cases in Europe were also weighing on sentiment.
The upcoming US general election on 3 November was also drawing an amount of attention from investors, with Democratic challenger Joe Biden maintaining a lead over incumbent Donald Trump in the polls, albeit a narrower one than previously.
Elsewhere, tech shares were in focus as chief executives of major firms Alphabet, Facebook and Twitter will appear before a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing.
On the macro front, mortgage applications rose 1.7% in the US during the week ended 23 October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, rebounding from a 0.6% drop in the previous week. Applications to refinance a home loan advanced 2.5%.
Elsewhere, the US trade deficit in goods fell 4.5% last month after hitting a record high in August, going against estimates for a small increase in the trade gap.
Exports rose 2.7% in September to $122bn, principally due to an increased level of shipments of farm products and capital goods, while imports slipped 0.2% to $201.4bn, according to the Census Bureau.
In the corporate space, Mastercard posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings, while Boeing posted a narrower-than-expected loss and General Electric posted stronger-than-forecast revenues and a surprise adjusted profits.
Still to come, Visa, Boeing, Western Digital, Ford, Gilead Sciences and eBay were all slated to report earnings on Wednesday.