US stock markets mostly opened lower on Tuesday after higher-than-expected manufacturing inflation data raised concerns that the Federal Reserve will accelerate monetary policy tightening in the US. meeting this week.
Producer prices in the US rose 9.6% in the year to November, with a sharp 0.7% monthly gain. Base prices rose 0.7 percent on the month and 7.7 percent year-on-year. Last week's data showed consumer inflation at a high of nearly 40%.
By 9:45 AM ET (1445 GMT), the Dow Jones had gained 44 points, or 0.1%, to 35,695, but the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.9%, both extending Monday's decline.
Analysts expect the Fed to accelerate its bond-buying phase, meaning financial markets could go from creating $120 billion of liquidity a month to zero in as little as three or four months. The tightening of liquidity conditions is likely to push up money market rates even before the Fed starts raising official rates.
Tesla slipped further below the $1,000 mark as CEO Elon Musk continued to reduce his stock holdings. Musk sold an additional $906 million worth of stock on Monday, according to SEC filings. Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 1.4% to $952.52.
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) meanwhile inched closer to a $3 trillion valuation, up 0.1% after being upgraded to price targets from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Evercore.
