US stocks slip while Boeing stumbles after deadly crash

NEW YORK: US stocks slipped in early trading Monday as traders looked to lock in profits, and Boeing stocks fell following a deadly plane crash in South Korea.

South Korean officials have ordered a “comprehensive inspection” of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s carriers after a Jeju Air jet crash-landed and burst into flames on Sunday, killing 179 people on board.

Shortly after markets opened on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% to 42,507.31, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index slipped 1.2% to 5,899.43.

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.4% to 19,448.57.

“We’re seeing some profit taking at the end of a very strong year,” 50 Park Investments chief executive Adam Sarhan told AFP.

“There’s only two trading days left in the year and a lot of selling in the tech stocks.”

Among major firms, Boeing shares fell 4.9% in early trading.

“You have a situation where we have another crash and it was a Boeing jet,” Sarhan said.

However, if it turns out to have been a one-off incident, it will not be a problem for the company, he added.