US stocks open Monday lower after 5th straight winning week

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stock exchanges opened Monday with losses, following their fifth straight winning week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 23 points, or 0.06%, to 36,219 at 9.52 am EDT.

The S&P 500 decreased 25 points, or 0.55%, to 4,569. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, dove 141 points, or 1%, to 14,163.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, jumped 5.7% to 13.35 at the time. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose 1.1% to 4.270%.

The dollar index increased 0.4% to 103.74, while the euro trimmed 0.5% to $1.0828 against the greenback.

Despite their rally in recent weeks, precious metals changed course and were in negative territory, with gold losing 1.2% to $2,046 per ounce and silver decreasing 1.2% to $24.94.

Oil prices fell around 0.7%, with global benchmark Brent crude at $78.33 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude at $73.49.

Price of Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, climbed above $42,000 around 1045GMT -- a level that has not been seen in more than 19 months, since April 21, 2022.

Ethereum, the world's biggest altcoin by market value, also rose to as much as $2,272 during the day, marking its highest level since May 11, 2022, official figures showed.

The recent rally is the result of hopes that the Federal Reserve could soon end its monetary policy tightening and Bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) would get regulatory approval in the US.

Some altcoins saw their prices soar more than 25% in the past 24 hours, according to data from the digital asset price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.

The total value of the crypto market was up 2.8% to $1.53 trillion at the time, while Bitcoin's share of the crypto market, known as dominance, was at 53.1%, showed the data.