U.S. stocks open lower as Fed taper talk weighs; Dow Jones down 0.10%

U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday, weighed by growing speculation the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its bond purchase program before the year end. 

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.10%, the S&P 500 index edged down 0.07%, while the Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.28%. 

Data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, significantly higher than the 125,000 expected by economists. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.3% from an almost five year low of 7.2% the previous month.

The upbeat data indicated that the U.S. economy shrugged off the impact of the government shutdown and added to expectations that the Fed may start winding down its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program as soon as next month. 

Investors were also eyeing the testimony of Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. 

Apple shares added 0.17% amid reports it is developing new iPhone designs including bigger screens with curved glass and enhanced sensors that can detect different levels of pressure. 

In the pharmaceutical sector, ViroPharma gained 25.44% after Ireland's Shire agreed to buy the company for about USD4.2 billion to gain treatments for rare diseases and lessen dependence on its Vyvanse pill for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

Elsewhere, Transocean rallied 2.79% after the offshore-rig contractor said it came to an agreement with Carl Icahn to pay a dividend and cut the number of board seats. 

On the downside, Twitter plummeted 3.72% after surging over 70% last week, when the company made its highly anticipated trading debut. 

Other companies likely to be in focus included News Corp and Hologic, scheduled to report quarterly results later in the day. 

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.46%, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.55%, Germany's DAX added 0.19%, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.25%. 

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 1.43%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped 1.30%.