US stocks fall on weak China data, lower oil prices

US stocks fell early today following a disappointing reading on Chinese manufacturing activity and a drop in oil prices.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 16,339.60, down 126.70 points (0.77 per cent).
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 13.88 (0.72 per cent) at 1,926.36, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 30.57 (0.66 per cent) to 4,583.39.
Dow member ExxonMobil lost 2.7 per cent and Halliburton fell 2.1 per cent as oil prices opened lower.
Chinese manufacturing activity contracted at its fastest pace in more than three years in January with the purchasing managers index dropping to 49.4, its sixth straight month in contraction territory below a 50 reading.

Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 3.9 per cent following a report in The Wall Street Journal that US food safety regulators will declare its E coli outbreak over as soon as today. The outbreak sickened more than 50 people last year.

Diagnostics company Alere rocketed 45.1 per cent higher on news it agreed to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories for USD 5.8 billion. Abbott fell 2.3 per cent.
Natural gas company Questar surged 20.9 per cent on news it agreed to be acquired by Dominion Resources for USD 4.4 billion. Dominion fell 1.6 per cent.
Aetna gained 1.8 per cent after it reported fourth-quarter net income of USD 320.8 million, up 38 per cent from the year-ago period.

Tesla Motors fell 2.7 per cent as Morgan Stanley trimmed its price target for the stock on expectations its production of electric cars will be lower than previously thought.
Twitter jumped 6.6 per cent following a report of a potential deal involving investor Marc Andreessen and private-equity firm Silver Lake.