Stock Market Today: Dow Slips 500 Points, Oil Nears $100 — Live Updates

U.S. equities opened sharply lower Monday as crude oil's rally toward the $100-per-barrel threshold intensified inflation concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped approximately 500 points, shedding 1% at the open. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also declined, though specific magnitudes were not disclosed in the session's early trading.

The selloff reflects renewed investor anxiety over energy costs, which feed through to corporate margins and consumer spending power. Oil's approach to triple digits revives memories of the inflationary pressures that drove the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate-hike cycle in 2022 and 2023. Higher fuel prices threaten to stall disinflation progress and could complicate the Fed's path toward any policy easing later this year.

Broad-based weakness hit equities as the prospect of sustained elevated oil costs weighed on sentiment across sectors. The Dow's 1% decline underscores growing caution among investors who had priced in a more benign inflation outlook entering the quarter.