US OPEN: Wall Street muted at the beginning of new week

• US indices launched today's cash trading slightly lower
• Tesla (TSLA.US) stock gains on latest Musk's Twitter pool
• Meta Platforms (META.US) stock plummets following  EU Commission accusation

Three major Wall Street indices fell slightly at the beginning of Friday's session, extending last week's losses, with Dow Jones trading 0.15% lower, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 016% and 0.25% as recent hawkish remarks from major central banks coupled with weak data boosted recession fears continue to dent market sentiment. “As we near the end of December, investors are still waiting on that Santa Claus Rally, with stocks coming off back-to-back down weeks for the first time since September,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. “Data showing inflation cooling may have given the market a short-lived boost, but the Fed standing firm with Powell driving home the point that rates could remain elevated for quite a while likely grounded some investors.”

S&P 500 index stocks categorized by sectors and industries. Size represents market cap. Source: xStation5

US2000 broke below local support at support 1790 pts on Friday and today's retest of the aforementioned level turned out to be a failure. As long as price sits below, downward move may deepen towards psychological support at 1700 pts. Source: xStation5

Company news:

Meta Platforms (META.US) stock dropped over 2.0% on Monday after the European Commission suspects that Facebook owner is abusing its dominant position in online classified ads and may receive a fine of up to 10% of annual revenue.

Meta Platforms (META.US) stock managed to defend local support at $116.00 which coincides with 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the last upward wave, 50 SMA (green line) an upward trendline. As long as price sits above, the upward move may accelerate toward the recent high at $124.50. Source: xStation5

Tesla (TSLA.US) stock rose over 3.0% in off-hours trading after CEO Elon Musk posted on Twitter an informal poll Sunday asking users of the social media platform if he should step down as CEO. Over 57.0% of respondents called for his departure. Musk said that he will abide by the results of the poll, however it is not clear when or even if he will resign as he cannot find a proper candidate for Twitter's CEO. Some major Tesla shareholders have expressed concern over Musk trying to run both companies, saying Twitter is a major distraction.

Mesa Air (MESA.US) shares surged more than 7.5% before the opening bell as the carrier is finalizing a deal to operate regional flights for United Airlines (UAL.US). Company also announced the end of cooperation with American Airlines (AAL.US).

Warner Music Group (WMG.US) soared 3.0% in the premarket after Atlantic Equities upgraded the entertainment company to overweight from neutral as it continues to deliver growth in streaming despite difficult macroeconomic conditions.