US stocks open lower to kick off new week

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stocks opened Monday with losses to kick off the new week on a lower note.

The Dow Jones was down 69 points, or 0.18%, to 39,406 at 9.42 a.m. EDT. The S&P 500 fell 16 points, or 0.32%, to 5,217.

The Nasdaq, meanwhile, decreased 113 points, or 0.69%, to 16,316 at the time.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, rose 3% to 13.45. The 10-year US Treasury yield added 0.43% to 4.237%.

The dollar index increased 0.2% to 104.23, while the euro rose 0.3% to $1.0836 against the greenback.

Precious metals were on the rise, with gold adding 0.6% to $2,178 per ounce and silver increasing 0.4% to $24.78.

Oil prices gained more than 1% with global benchmark Brent crude at $85.70 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude at $81.56.

Bitcoin was up 2.8% to $67,167 and Ethereum added 1.9% to $3,450. The total value of the cryptocurrency market was up 2.6% to $2.55 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap, a digital asset price-tracking website.