US stocks tumble during early trade, weighed down by weakness in tech stocks

Major US equity indices opened lower on Monday and were being weighed down by weakness in technology stocks, led by a steep decline in shares of the social-media giant - Facebook. 

The Fed's upcoming monetary policy decision also held investors back from placing aggressive bets and contributed to the weaker tone at the start of a new trading week. A 25bps interest rate hike is nearly priced in the market and hence, the key focus would be on the updated economic projections/'dot plot', which would signal the central bank's future path of interest rate hikes and eventually influence sentiment around riskier assets - like equities.

Meanwhile, growing worries about a potential global trade war, especially after the US President Donald Trump's plans to levy tariffs on China, continued weighing on the investors' sentiment and should keep a lid on any meaningful near-term up-move.

At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down around 120-points to 24,820 and the broader S&P 500 Index slipped nearly 15-points to 2,737. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell over 70-points, or 1.0%, and has now retreated back closer to 7,400 mark.