NEW YORK, May 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened noticeably lower on Wednesday, on track for a three-day losing streak, as sell-off continued on Wall Street.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 407.85 points, or 1.20 percent, to 33,652.81. The S&P 500 dropped 53.87 points, or 1.31 percent, to 4,073.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 183.34 points, or 1.38 percent, to 13,120.29.
All the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors pulled back, with energy down 2.8 percent in morning trading, leading the losses.
Tech shares continued to be under pressure with the sector declining more than 1 percent. Shares of major U.S. tech giants, or the so-called FAANG group of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet, all traded lower.
The minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting is slated for Wednesday afternoon. Investors will look to it for clues on how the U.S. central bank will address evidence of price pressures in the economy.
Data released last week showed a stronger-than-expected jump of the U.S. consumer price index in April, reigniting concerns over inflation. Investors worried that the Federal Reserve may need to retreat from its easy money policy earlier than anticipated. Fed officials have so far described price increases as transitory.
