Wall Street opens lower ahead of earnings reports from big tech companies

The US stock market opened slightly lower on relatively low volume on Monday, ahead of a packed week of earnings reports from Big Tech companies.

By 9:45 AM ET (1345 GMT), the Dow Jones had fallen 37 points, or 0.1%, to 35,640. The S&P 500 also fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was flat.

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) will be the first megacap company to report, having lost a $1 trillion position in recent weeks due to the buzz about its governance and operating outlook. Facebook stock underperformed in early trading, losing 0.3% after more governance allegations were made over the weekend by a second whistleblower. The stock fell another 0.4 percent to test the five-month low it hit in early October. Sentiment in social stocks in general was softened last week by the announcement of the company. Snap (NYSE: SNAP) that advertising companies have reduced their spending after Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) made it harder for social media companies to target ads using privacy rules their latest.

Pinterest shares fell 14% after PayPal said it was not currently considering a merger with the site. Shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) jumped 4.9% when the deal didn't happen because of reports that they were overvalued.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock rose 4.4% to a new all-time high after car rental company Hertz Global, which has bounced back from bankruptcy for the past two years, said it ordered 100,000 Tesla Model 3 sedans for its rental fleet. The cars will be delivered within the next 14 months. Bloomberg reported from people familiar with the matter that Hertz will pay close to the standard retail price for each vehicle, as opposed to a discount that rental car companies can often ask for when buying a number. large amounts.

The frenzied speculation surrounding Donald Trump's new social media platform has cooled down a bit, as shares of Digital World Acquisition rose just 4.5% after surging 10 times in the past week. The recently listed SPAC company is set to merge with Trump Media and Technology Co., which will house the former President's new social media platform. Shares of Phunware, which also jumped last week on speculation that it will develop the company's apps, also rose just 4.1 percent.