Dow drops more than 500 points amid Fed, Delta variant jitters

The most important U.S. stock indexes opened sharply lower on Monday as investors assessed a bevy of risks, including a possible shift in Federal Reserve guidance this week that could hurt corporate profits. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 700 points, or about 2%, to 33,872 as of 12:45 p.m. Eastern time, while the broader S&P 500-stock index fell 2.1% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite sank 2.6%. The declines extend a slide for Wall Street this month, with the benchmark S&P 500 losing nearly 1% last week alone before Monday's tumble.

Although September is historically a weak month for stocks, a range of factors is weighing on market sentiment. Investors remain concerned that the latest COVID-19 wave could slow economic growth, while also keeping a close eye on a push by congressional Democrats to raise taxes on wealthy Americans and big corporations as well as pushback from Republicans on raising the U.S. debt ceiling. Fear is also mounting that Evergrande Group, a massive Chinese property developer, could default on its hundreds of billions in debt and trigger a financial crisis beyond China.