US: Stocks fall amid inflation worries and Capitol Hill fog

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks were lower early Monday amid anxiety over inflation and uncertainty in Congress as markets await closely watched economic data later in the week.

Worries about inflation remain front and centre, following a series of company announcements in recent days about higher costs to ship goods and raw materials.

Analysts are also focused on an unpredictable legislative environment for President Joe Biden's infrastructure and social spending programme. Democrats have yet to coalesce around a compromise, while Republicans have signalled broad opposition to most of Mr Biden's efforts.

About 35 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down less than 0.1 per cent at 34,314.81.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.6 per cent to 4,332.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.4 per cent to 14,362.72.

Among individual companies, Tesla jumped 3.7 per cent after announcing better-than-expected third-quarter car deliveries.

Facebook dropped 3.6 per cent as the company faces deepening scrutiny over its operations. Whistleblower Frances Haugen told television news show "60 Minutes" the company repeatedly chose "profit over safety" in managing the omnipresent social media company.

AFP