Stocks Opened Lower, Oil Prices Dropped

U.S. stocks opened marginally lower on Monday as falling oil prices weighed on shares of energy companies and as investors digested the G20’s decision to drop a pledge to keep global trade free and open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately slipped 7.22 points, or 0.03%, to 20,907.40. The S&P 500 shed 4.17 points, or 0.18%, to 2,374.08. The Nasdaq Composite skidded 3.39 points, or 0.06%, to 5,897.61.

Financial leaders of the world’s biggest economies made only a token reference to trade in their communique on Saturday, acquiescing to an increasingly protectionist United States after the two-day meeting failed to yield a compromise.

Oil prices fell back Monday, as some analysts blamed the drop on G-20 officials removing anti-protectionist language from a policy statement. April West Texas Intermediate crude shed 61 cents, or 1.3%, to $48.17 a barrel, while May Brent crude gave up 43 cents, or 0.8%, to $51.33 a barrel.

International Business Machines Corp has launched a service that will allow businesses to build applications on its cloud using blockchain code from the Hyperledger Project, the cross-industry group led by the Linux Foundation.

Britain’s Vodafone Group (VOD.L) and Idea Cellular (IDEA.NS) agreed on Monday to merge their Indian operations in a $23 billion deal, creating the country’s biggest telecoms business after the entry of a new rival sparked a brutal price war.