NEW YORK, Jan 11 — Wall Street stocks opened lower today, extending a period of weakness ahead of testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expected to focus on inflation.

Powell, appearing before the Senate in a confirmation hearing for a second term to lead the US central bank, said in prepared remarks the Fed "will use our tools” to promote a strong labour market and "to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched.”

After hitting records late last year, stocks have been under pressure for much of January so far as markets prepare for a tightening monetary policy environment.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.7 per cent at 35,827.26.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.5 per cent to 4,646.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.5 per cent to 14,875.34.

The decline came as the World Bank projected global growth would slow to 4.1 per cent this year from an estimated 5.5 per cent in 2021, but warned "Omicron-related economic disruptions could substantially reduce growth” to as low as 3.4 per cent. — AFP