US: Wall St opens sharply lower on China woes, oil

[NEW YORK] US stocks opened sharply lower for the second straight day on Thursday after China allowed the yuan to decline further and oil prices slumped to near 12-year lows, raising concerns over the state of the global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 189.94 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 16,716.57, the S&P 500 lost 21.6 points, or 1.09 per cent, to 1,968.66 and the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 103.30 points, or 2.14 per cent, to 4,732.46.

REUTERS