US stocks open news-rich week on down note

New York - Wall Street stocks opened lower on Monday at the start of a news-rich week that includes the September US jobs report and the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.

The jobs report, to be released Friday, is expected to show the US economy added 176 000 jobs in September, or 25 000 more than in August.

Annual gatherings of the IMF and World Bank come as policy makers confront a sour mood in many countries due to weak economic growth that has propelled protectionism, IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned last week.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18 237.75, down 0.4%.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3% at 2 161.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2% at 5 302.37.