Stocks Opened Mostly Lower as COVID Cases Rose

U.S. stocks opened mostly lower on Monday, as worries about COVID-19’s spread escalated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 109.56 points, 0.36%, to 30,108.70. The S&P was up 6.13 points, or 0.17%, to 3,692.99. The Nasdaq Composite declined 45.50 points, or 0.37%, to 12,509.73.

Oil futures lost ground Monday, pulling back from a nine-month high as COVID-19 cases extend a surge, underlining worries about fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell 52 cents, or 1.1%, to $45.74 a barrel. February Brent crude was off 51 cents, or 1%, at $48.74 a barrel.

Thus far, the global tally for confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rose above 67 million on Monday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll rose above 1.5 million. The U.S. has the highest case tally in the world at 14.8 million and the highest death toll at 282,324, or more than a fifth of the global total.