US open: Stocks in the red following S&P 500's best week in two years

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the red early on Monday as market participants monitored the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the crash of a passenger plane in China.

As of 1510 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.45% at 34,597.58, while the S&P 500 was 0.03% softer at 4,461.81 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.52% weaker at 13,821.82.

The Dow opened 157.35 points lower on Monday, taking a bite out of gains recorded in the previous session.

In focus early on Monday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that if peace talks between himself and Russian head of state Vladimir Putin failed, it would signal the start of a "third world war". While Ukrainian and Russian officials have met for peace talks in the past, both sides have failed to reach an agreement. Ukraine has also rejected an ultimatum to surrender the city of Mariupol to Russian soldiers.

Brent crude futures also rose a little over 6% to top $114 a barrel after the European Union said it was considering joining the US in an embargo on Russian oil.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention was news that a China Eastern Airlines passenger plane with 132 people on board had crashed near the city of Wuzhou, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The number of casualties on board the six-year-old Boeing 737-800 was not immediately known but rescue teams have been sent to the crash site and say a fire in woods caused by the downed aircraft has been extinguished.

Market participants were also keeping a keen eye on rising Covid cases across Europe due to an emerging variant.

On the macro front, the Chicago Fed's national activity index slipped from 0.59 in January to 0.51 in February, indicating a slight drop in economic growth last month. The three-month moving average ticked down to 0.35 in February from 0.37 in January.

Still to come, Fed chairman Jerome Powell will deliver a speech ay 1600 GMT.

In the corporate space, Nike and Tencent will report earnings after the close.

Dow Jones - Risers

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $224.93 1.82%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $164.35 1.62%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $51.61 1.59%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $182.92 1.45%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $60.87 1.27%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $63.16 1.23%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $47.82 0.97%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $79.73 0.78%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $150.88 0.49%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $508.45 0.46%