Wall Street tumbles 1% at the open, weighed by tech

Wall Street opened the second session of the week lower, with S&P plumbing three-week lows, while NASDAQ fell below 7,000 for the first time in six months, and Dow below 25,000 on concerns of weak sales in the holiday season. 

Retail stocks led the decline, while Apple dragged the tech sector lower on weak forecasts for iPhone sales, and as the slump in oil prices continue to weigh on energy shares. 

US Vice President Mike Pence launched an attack on China on Sunday, while the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held in Papua New Guinea failed to reach a joint statement for the first time in its history due to internal disagreements. 

Last Friday, US President Donald Trump expressed hopes for reaching a trade deal with China, however the US might resort to imposing further tariffs on China if both sides failed to reach an understanding, as markets await a summit between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sides of the G20 Summit in Argentina. 

US Housing Data  

Earlier US data showed housing starts rose to an annualized 1.23 million units in October as expected, improving upon September's 1.21 million units. 

US building permits slipped to an annualized 1.26 million units as expected from 1.27 million in September, revised from 1.24 million. 

Stock Performance 

As of 03:48 GMT, Standard and Poor's 500 fell 1.26%, or 33.84 points to 2,656.89, while Dow Jones tumbled 1.63%, or 408.71 points to 24,608.73. 

Tech-heavy NASDAQ swooned 1.04%, or 73.41 points to 6,955.06.