NEW YORK, May 1 — Wall Street stocks opened sharply lower today on weakness in Amazon and Apple shares following earnings reports and tensions over blame for the coronavirus between China and the United States.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 23,900.59, down 1.8 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.9 per cent to 2,856.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also dropped 1.9 per cent to 8,712.53.

Amazon and Apple, two of the biggest companies by market capitalisation, both fell in the wake of results released after the closing bell yesterday.

Amazon dove 5.8 per cent after the company cautioned that earnings in the second quarter would be entirely wiped out by expenses related to Covid-19 as it works to keep up with surging demand at a time when many brick-and-mortar stores are closed.

Apple shed 1.0 per cent as it reported lower profits, with the pandemic hitting the iPhone maker on multiple fronts, disrupting its retail operations, suppliers in China and the finances of its customers.

Analysts also pointed to comments from President Donald Trump claiming that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab.

The US president threatened tariffs on Beijing, escalating a blame game between the two biggest economies and reviving investors’ trade war worries. — AFP