US stock market opens lower

NEW YORK (AA) - Wall Street opened lower to begin the first trading day of the week with a decline in oil prices and losses in European stock markets.

The Dow Jones decreased 65 points to begin the day at 18,486. The S&P 500 was down five points to 2,178, while the Nasdaq fell 10 points to 5,228 at the start of the day.

At the U.S. stock market opening, Germany's DAX index was down 0.72 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE posted a 0.50 percent decrease, and France's CAC 40 saw a 0.29 percent decline.

With the gain in value of the U.S. dollar against major currencies, oil prices were down almost three percent.

At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $47.86 a barrel with a 2.6 percent decline, while international benchmark Brent crude was at $49.40 per barrel -- a 2.9 percent loss.