US stocks open lower, extending streak of losses

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks fell early Thursday, extending a run of losses, as investors weigh talk of higher US corporate taxes against improving economic data.

Equities fell the last two sessions, with analysts pointing to congressional testimony from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said the Biden administration is considering hiking taxes to finance infrastructure spending.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare warned against making "too much" of current weakness, but said worries over potential tax hikes and the risk of inflation inject "added uncertainty back in the mix" for investors.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.7 percent at 32,189.53.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.5 percent to 3,868.46, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6 percent to 12,888.10.

Government reports included an upgrade in fourth-quarter economic growth to 4.3 percent from 4.1 percent and a drop in weekly jobless claims to 684,000, the first reading below 700,000 since the pandemic sparked mass layoffs.

Analysts were looking ahead to a hearing later Thursday in which the leaders of Facebook, Google and Twitter were expected to face scrutiny over their policing of disinformation on social media platforms.

Both Facebook and Google parent Alphabet rose early Thursday, while Twitter dropped 1.4 percent after model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen quit the platform, citing online bullying.

Nike slumped 4.1 percent as Chinese celebrities cut ties with the sports giant in response to the company's criticism of China's human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, a top cotton-producing region.