By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks opened sharply lower, pushing the S&P 500 into bear market territory, as investors feared the prospect of more interest rate hikes ahead by the Federal Reserve.
At 9:51 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 649 points, or 2%, while the S&P 500 was down 2.4% and the Nasdaq was down 2.9%. Bear market territory signifies a 20% decline from a recent peak.
The S&P and Nasdaq hit 52-week lows early Monday. The Fed meets beginning on Tuesday and will announce its June rate decision on Wednesday. In recent days, some analysts have started forecasting even more rate increases than earlier expected, an outlook that weighed on growth sectors of the market such as tech stocks.
The 2-year Treasury hit its highest yield since 2007. It was trading near 3.2% recently. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.54%.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares fell 5% in the tech swoon despite a ratings upgrade from RBC, which moved it to outperform from sector perform.
Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) stock fell 3.4% after Summit Insights cut it to hold from buy.
Cryptocurrencies also plunged, with Bitcoin falling below $25,000. Digital currencies have been moving in the same direction as stocks over the last few months. Crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) also fell, 23% and 13.7%, respectively.
Oil fell. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down 0.8%, to $119.62 a barrel while Brent Oil Futures crude fell 0.7% to $121.09 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 2%, to $1,838 an ounce.