NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks began the week much lower Monday after President Joe Biden's social spending bill hit a roadblock in Congress, while spiking Covid-19 cases weakened the economic outlook.

US Senator Joe Manchin dealt what could be a fatal blow to Biden's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better proposal when he announced on Sunday that he would not vote for it.

Meanwhile, surging case counts and the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 prompted some governments to enact fresh restrictions, while top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci warned that the latest strain would be "raging through the world" this winter.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare dubbed Omicron "the Grinch that might steal Christmas," and said traders were selling off partially due to concerns that the economic recovery isn't as strong as it appears.

Wall Street Week Ahead: Narrowing market breadth may be worrying signal for stocks

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.7 percent at 34,755.38.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent to 4,550.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also shed 1.5 percent to 14,940.73.

This week's economic calendar includes reports on consumer confidence, home sales and durable goods orders. Markets will be closed on Friday ahead of the Christmas holiday.