Monday’s stock market opening in the US is negative

The VIX volatility index jumps 6.8%, as oil prices rise by almost 4%.

Monday saw losses for the major US stock exchanges.

At 10.18 a.m. EDT, the S&P 500 was down 10 points, or 0.24%, to 4,298 while the Dow Jones was down 52 points, or 0.16%, to 33,355.

While this was happening, the Nasdaq fell 77 points, or 0.58%, to 13,353.

The fear index, popularly known as the VIX volatility index, shot up 6.8% to 18.64. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury fell 2% to 4.687%.

The dollar index increased by 0.2% to 106.26, while the euro’s value against the dollar fell by 0.3% to $1.0552.

The price of precious metals increased, with gold up 0.9% to $1,849 per ounce and silver up 0.6% to $21.72.

With global benchmark Brent crude at $87.83 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $86.34 per barrel, oil prices rose by about 4%.