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U.S. stocks open lower on auto sales

Xinhua, March 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday as Wall Street pulled back from near record levels.

U.S. stocks began the new month with a surge on Monday, as the Nasdaq closed above the 5,000 level for the first time since March 2000, and the Dow and S&P set new records.

Investors were shifting their focus to auto sales data Tuesday. Sales of total light motor vehicles fell 1.2 percent in January to a 16.7 million annual rate versus 16.9 million in December.

Weakness is centered in foreign-made vehicles where sales fell 8.8 percent to a 3.1 million rate. Sales of North American-made vehicles fell 0.7 percent to a 13.5 million rate.

In corporate news, Best Buy announced financial results Tuesday for the fourth quarter and year ended January 31, 2015. The company earned an adjusted 1.48 U.S. dollars per share for its latest quarter, beating estimates by 13 cents. Best Buy' s shares jumped 1.06 percent in the early trading.

AutoZone reported Tuesday net sales of 2.1 billion dollars for its second quarter ended February 14, 2015, an increase of 7.7 percent from the second quarter of fiscal 2014. Shares soared 2.54 percent in the early session.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 41.17 points, or 0.23 percent, to 18,247.46. The S&P 500 lost 5.49 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,111.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 14.83 points, or 0.30 percent, to 4,993.26. Endite