Stocks open lower as oil hovers above $100

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. stocks opened lower Wednesday, as investors remained cautious following the previous session’s selloff on renewed concerns about oil and the Libyan conflict.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) dropped 16 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 18 points, or 1.4%, and the Nasdaq (COMP) fell 3 points, or 0.1%.

Joel Kruger, an analyst at DailyFX who focuses on European markets, said Wall Street is still dealing with “fear and risk aversion,” because of political turmoil in oil-producing nations in North Africa — particularly Libya — which “doesn’t seem to be going away.”

U.S. stocks dropped Tuesday, with all three major indexes down more than 1%, as oil prices spiked to more than $100 a barrel.

The sell-off came as oil prices for April delivery continued to head higher, climbing $2.66 to settle at $99.63 a barrel on Tuesday, amid ongoing violence in Libya and tension throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

World markets: World markets fell sharply Wednesday, a day after the big U.S. selloff, as forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi attacked rebels in eastern Libya.

European stocks slumped in afternoon trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.7%, the DAX in Germany lost 0.7% and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.8%.

Asian markets ended sharply lower. The Shanghai Composite slid 0.2%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong tumbled 1.5% and Japan’s Nikkei sank 2.4%.

Economy: ADP released its latest private-sector jobs report, showing a gain of 217,000 jobs for February.

Economists had forecast the ADP report to show that private businesses hired 165,000 new workers last month, down from 187,000 in January.

Employers announced plans to cut 50,702 jobs in February, a 32% increase over last month, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

A crude oil inventory report will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET, followed by the Fed’s Beige Book — a reading of the economic situation from the regional Fed banks — at 2 p.m. ET.

Companies: Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) were slightly higher Wednesday morning, as investors anticipate the company’s iPad 2 announcement at 1 p.m. ET.

Warehouse retailer Costco (COST, Fortune 500) reported second-quarter earnings of $348 million, or 79 cents a share. Revenue jumped 11.3% year-over-year to $20.88 billion, slightly beating expectations. Shares edged lower in early trading.

Shares of Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) climbed about 3% amid reports that the online portal company is in talks to sell its 30% stake in its Yahoo! Japan venture.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil for April delivery rose 95 cents to $100.58 a barrel, having reached as high as $101.47 on the reports of violence in Libya.

Gold futures for April delivery touched an intraday record of $1,438.20 an ounce, before easing to $1,437.20 Wednesday morning. That was $6.00 higher than the record settlement high set Tuesday.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.43% from 3.40% late Tuesday.  

First Published: March 2, 2011: 9:43 AM ET