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Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened lower on Thursday as aftershocks from the latest turn for worse in U.S.-China relations and concerns about global supply chains weighed on sentiment.
By 9:50 AM ET (1350 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 266 points, or 0.8% at 32,502 points. The S&P was down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.7%.
Overnight, the head of a Dutch company contracted to help unblock the Suez canal said it might “take weeks” to free the stricken Ever Given container ship. That has fed concerns of fresh strains on global supply chains that are already visible in a worldwide shortage of semiconductors and – since the cold snap in Texas – plastics.
Bloomberg reported that 185 ships are currently backed up awaiting entry to the canal, over one-third of them carrying crude oil, liquefied natural gas or other energy and petrochemical products.
To make matters worse, the recriminations over sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other western governments last week on China in respect of alleged human rights abuses in the province of Xinjiang appear to be getting uglier.
Nike (NYSE:NKE) stock was down another 4.8% to its lowest in four months after a blaze of outrage on Chinese social media warned of a boycott of Nike products in response to a statement – made in November – distancing the company from allegations that it profited from slave labor in the province of Xinjiang.
ADRs in Swedish retailer H & M were down 3.2% as the government-directed outrage targeted its stores too.
