U.S. stocks sharply lower on Japan move; Dow Jones down 1.17%

Investing.com - U.S. stocks were sharply lower open on Monday, as a broadly higher U.S. dollar weighed on commodity prices and renewed euro zone concerns dampened market sentiment.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.17%, the S&P 500 index dropped 1.29%, while the Nasdaq Composite index declined 1.06%.

The greenback rallied broadly after Japanese officials launched an intervention to curb the appreciation of the yen, earlier Monday.

Japan’s Vice Finance Minister Fumihiko Igarashi said that the intervention was not targeting specific currency levels and added that it was too early to assess the impact of the action, which may not yet have ended.

Meanwhile, market sentiment weakened as investors worried that, after reaching an agreement last week, European leaders' plans to bolster the region's lenders could fail.

Tracking losses in commodity prices, shares in oil giant Chevron Corp tumbled 2.26%, while Exxon Mobil dropped 1.56%. 

Meanwhile, U.S. lenders shadowed their European counterparts as Citigroup plunged 3.63% and Goldman Sachs tumbled 2.56%, while shares in JP Morgan declined 2.18%.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo saw shares plummet 3.27% and 3.13% following the announcement that Wells Fargo is canceling a planned monthly debit card usage fee, while BofA is scaling back similar plans. The fees have been the subject of protests by consumers.

Elsewhere, Sony saw shares plummet 4.74% after announcing plans to split its struggling TV business into three separate units, focusing on LCD Tvs, outsourcing and next-generation TVs.

Shares in MF Global Holdings were halted after the New York Federal Reserve suspended the firm from doing business with them. According to recent reports, Interactive Brokers is planning to make a bid of about USD1 billion for the U.S. futures brokerage.

On the upside, health insurer Humana surged 5.26% after posting a higher-than-expected profit and boosting its full-year earnings forecast.  

Other stocks in focus included Allstate and Anadarko Petroleum, slated to report quarterly results after Monday's closing bell.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply lower. The EURO STOXX 50 tumbled 1.78%, France’s CAC 40 plummeted 1.78%, Germany's DAX plunged 1.97%, while Britain's FTSE 100 posted a 1.27% drop.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.65%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped 0.7%.

Also Monday, a report showed that manufacturing activity in the Chicago area fell more-than-expected in October. 

In a report, market research group Kingsbury International said its Chicago purchasing managers’ index fell to 58.4 in October from 60.4 in September. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 59.0 in October.