US stocks opened lower shortly after the bell rang on Wall Street after a sell-off in European equities where a renewed bout of bond-market chaos lured investors out of riskier assets.
Meanwhile, data on U.S. productivity and unit-labour costs data for the first quarter were revealed ahead of tomorrow’s non-farm payroll figures.
Productivity dropped 3.1%, more than expected, having previously fallen 1.9%. It is the first time since 2006 there has been consecutive falls.
Unit-labour costs rose in the first quarter with analysts suggesting the trend could point towards an increase in inflation.
Elsewhere, the number of people seeking unemployment benefits at the end of May remained near a 15-year low, with weekly jobless claims down 8,000 to 276,000 from the week before.
The good news was not enough, however, and the Dow Jones opened 67 points lower to 18,007 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the broader S&P 500 made similar losses.
Shares of Dish Network rallied 5.8% to US$74 after a report the satellite-TV provider is in talks to merge with T-Mobile US. T-Mobile shares were 4% to US$40.
The two sides are close to an agreement with Dish Chief Executive Charlie Ergen likely to become the company’s chairman and his T-Mobile counterpart, John Legere, serving as the combined companies’ CEO, the report said.
In other M&A news, pharma company Opko Health has agreed to buy Bio-Reference Laboratories in a deal valued at about $1.5 billion. Opko will pay 2.75 shares for each Bio-Reference Labs share, which is equal to $52.58 per share.
Shares in Opko slipped 3% to US$18 while Bio-Reference Laboratories rocketed 40% to US$46.
Shares in burger chain Wendy’s fell as the fast-food franchise was downgraded to neutral from outperform and its stock-price target cut to $12 from $13 by Wedbush Securities. Shares eased slightly to US$11.
After yesterday’s closing bell, teen-focused discount retailer Five Below reported first-quarter earnings rose to $4.28 million, or eight cents a share, from $3.06 million, or six cents a share, a year ago. Shares jumped 8% to US$37.
Back in the UK, the FTSE 100 was 65 points lower to 6,886 after a difficult day for European equities. A number of companies were trading ex-dividend but it was Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT), the world's largest maker of auto catalysts, which fell furthest, easing 4% to 3,377p.