Opening Bell: U.S. Stocks Slammed, Goldman Sachs Profit Sinks

U.S. stocks tumbled at the open on Wednesday, after oil prices hit fresh lows overnight. The closely watched commodity continues to slide and reached its lowest point since September 2003. West Texas Intermediate fell below $28 a barrel, which caused a global markets selloff. 'The S&P 500, the Dow and the broader indices for the U.S. are not quite down 20 percent from their 2015 highs so what that suggests to us is this correction might have a little bit more to go,’ said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs (GS) reported diluted fourth quarter earnings a share of $1.27 on revenues of about $7.3 billion. Profit sunk almost 72 percent and would have been higher had it not been for a settlement the bank paid related to mortgage securities before the financial crisis. Finally, the consumer price index for December fell 0.1 percent, but rose by the same amount after stripping out food and energy. TheStreet’s Scott Gamm reports from Wall Street.