US open: Retailers and energy stocks lead Wall Street lower

US stocks opened with moderate losses on Monday as weak global manufacturing data and a disappointing performance by retailers over the crucial Thanksgiving weekend dampened sentiment on Wall Street.

By 10:01 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.5% lower, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.9%.

US markets were tracking declines over in Europe after the official Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to an eight-month low of 50.3 last month. Meanwhile, the final reading of the November Eurozone manufacturing PMI was unexpectedly revised to 50.1 from the initial reading of 50.4.

The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) US manufacturing index fell to 58.7 in November, down from 59 the month before but ahead of the 58 estimate.

Meanwhile, the final reading of the Markit US manufacturing PMI was revised to 54.8, up from the flash reading of 54.7 but below the 55 forecast and still at the lowest level in 10 months.

In corporate news, retailers were sold off in early after the National Retail Federation said retail spending over the Thanksgiving weekend fell 11%. This was the second consecutive annual decline for the four days to 30 November.

Heavyweight retailers such as Macy's, Sears, Amazon.com, Kohl's, JC Penney, Wal-Mart and Target were trading firmly in the red.

Oil prices stabilised on Monday after their recent plunge, but that didn't ease the downwards pressure on the energy sector, with Anadarko Petroleum, Devon Energy, Marathon Oil and Conocophillips all out of favour.

West Texas Intermediate oil was trading 0.7% higher at $66.61 a barrel on Monday morning, having dropped by 14% over last week. The commodity declined 18% over November as a whole, its worst monthly performance since December 2008.