Stocks Opened Sharply Lower as Oil Rout Intensified

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Friday, as a continuing rout in oil prices weighed on the main benchmarks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately lost 254.28 points, or 1.454%, to 17,320.47. The S&P 500 fell 27.11 points, or 1.32%, to 2,025.12. The Nasdaq Composite was down 61.02 points, or 1.21%, to 4,984.15.

Crude oil prices hit fresh seven-year lows on Friday as the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned global oversupply could worsen in the new year. Brent crude futures were down 60 cents at $39.13 a barrel at 1058 GMT, bouncing slightly from a session low of $38.90. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) were at $36.26 per barrel, down 50 cents after touching $36.12, their lowest since February 2009.

A gauge of U.S. consumer spending rose solidly in November, suggesting enough momentum in the economy for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next week for the first time in nearly a decade. Retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services increased 0.6 percent after gaining 0.2 percent in October, the Commerce Department said.

U.S. chemical giants DuPont (DD.N) and Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N) agreed to merge in an all-stock deal valuing the combined company at $130 billion, with plans to eventually split into three.The deal, which is likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny, allows the new company – to be called DowDuPont – to rejig assets based on their diverging fortunes.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has agreed to buy the Hong Kong’s flagship English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, the company and SCMP Group Ltd announced on Friday.