Stocks Opened Lower as Oil Tumbled

U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday as a fresh tumble in crude oil pushed prices to five-year lows, and a surging dollar sent investors for cover. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately lost 180.43 points, or 1.01%, to 17,652.56. The S&P 500 was down 22.28 points, or 1.08%, to 2,035.92. The Nasdaq Composite fell 40.48 points, or 0.86%, to 4,686.34.

Oil futures continued to tumble Monday, knocked to fresh 5 1/2 year lows.Brent North Sea crude hit its lowest level since mid-2009, changing hands in recent action at $54.19 a barrel, down $2.23, or 4%.

Mario Draghi will this week get his first taste of one of the dominant challenges for the euro-area economy for 2015. Consumer prices probably recorded the first annual decline in more than five years in December amid a slide in the cost of oil, aggravating concern at the European Central Bank that subdued inflation will become entrenched.

Chrysler Group said its December new-vehicle sales were best in a decade, and full-year sales were best since 2006. The car company reported new-vehicle sales of 193,261 in December, up 20% from the same month a year earlier. For all of 2014, the maker said it sold 2,090,639 cars and trucks, up 16.1%.

Ireland says the United States will permit imports of beef from the country – the first European Union state allowed to resume sales since the mad cow disease scare over 15 years ago.

Amazon.com (AMZN) on Monday announced sellers from more than 100 countries set a new record in 2014, selling more than $2 billion items. China and Hong Kong-based sellers with international sales grew 80 percent year- over-year, the company said. In total, sales by Amazon sellers represented 40 percent of the total units sold for the year.