US stocks fall about 1 pc in opening moments

Wall Street stocks fell sharply in the opening moments of trading today, putting the market on track for a possible third straight session of massive losses.

About three minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down almost 265 points, or 1.1 per cent to 24,081.09.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.2 per cent to 2,617.48, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 0.9 per cent to 6,902.61.