New York - US stocks opened lower on Thursday as worries about slumping oil prices and weak growth in China weighed on investor sentiment.
Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 172.21, down 176.52 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.89% to 2 061.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.96% to 4 971.11.
The losses in the US came on the heels of declines in leading European and Asian equity markets after the Shanghai equity index fell 3.42%, underscoring worries about the world's second-largest economy.
Investors also eyed falling oil prices, with the US benchmark contract close to the psychologically important $40-per-barrel level.
Dow members ExxonMobil and Chevron were down 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively.