Stocks open lower on Wall Street; Twitter sinks after hack

NEW YORK — Stocks opened broadly lower on Wall Street on Thursday, extending weakness in overseas markets.

The S&P 500 index gave up 0.6% in the early going, led by losses in technology companies.

Twitter sank after a breach in its security allowed hackers to break into the accounts of technology moguls, politicians and other major figures. Bank of America also fell after reporting that its profits were chopped in half in the latest quarter as the bank set aside billions of dollars to cover potentially bad loans caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Treasury yields fell after climbing the day before.

Shares retreated in Europe and Asia as investors sold on worries Beijing might cut back on stimulus after China’s economy returned to growth in the last quarter.

The Shanghai Composite index led Thursday’s declines, dropping 4.5% to 3,210.10. Benchmarks also fell in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney.

News that China’s economy grew 3.2% in annual terms in April-June, after a 6.8% contraction in the previous quarter, failed to keep an overnight rally going.

The expansion came as anti-virus lockdowns were lifted and factories and stores reopened. But it still was the weakest positive figure since China started reporting quarterly growth in the early 1990s.

Weak retail sales showed that boosting factory output is the easy part, said Stephen Innes of AxiCorp.

“No matter how much stimulus and fiscal sugar you try to entice consumers with, they will not leave their apartment and go on a spending spree until they feel confident the landscape is virus-free,” he said in a report.

The improved growth data was expected and provided an opportunity to cash in on profits from the recent run up in prices, analysts said.