U.S. stocks open lower amid geopolitical tensions, data

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Wednesday, as investors looked for safe haven assets on rising geopolitical tensions and digested newly-released jobs data.

Wall Street was nervous after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced it has successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties with Iran over the weekend and asked all Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

Analysts say the heightened geopolitical tensions sent traders scurrying from stocks into safe haven assets.

On the economic front, U.S. private sector employment increased by 257,000 jobs from November to December, according to the ADP National Employment Report Wednesday.

The ADP figure is watched closely as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due Friday.

Traders were looking to the key December employment data, the first jobs report since the U.S. Federal Reserve's mid-December decision to raise the interest rates.

The Fed is scheduled to release later Wednesday the minutes from its December meeting, when the central bank raised rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

Meanwhile, investors continued to focus on oil prices amid rising tensions in the Middle East, as crude prices had witnessed big swings recently and traded near multi-year lows.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 226.33 points, or 1.32 percent, to 16,932.33. The S&P 500 shed 25.52 points, or 1.27 percent, to 1,991.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 60.09 points, or 1.23 percent, to 4,831.34. Endi