Stocks Opened Sharply Lower as Rising Bond Yields Weighed

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Monday as rising bond yields continued to fuel the selloff in equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 249.08 points, or 0.98%, to 25,271.88. The S&P 500 lost 20.83 points, or 0.75%, to 2,741.30. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 44.96 points, or 0.62%, to 7,195.99.

Oil prices headed lower on Monday, building on last week’s losses that were driven in large part by a stronger dollar and rising U.S. crude production. West Texas Intermediate oil for March slipped 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $65.29 a barrel. Brent for April gave up 44 cents, or 0.6%, to $68.15 a barrel.

Chipmaker Broadcom Ltd on Monday sweetened its bid to buy Qualcomm Inc for more than $121 billion, ratcheting up pressure on its rival to come to the table for negotiations in its “best and final offer”.

Wells Fargo & Co. says the impact from sanctions put on the bank by the Federal Reserve after a wave of customer account scandals could reduce its profit this year by as much as $400 million.