US stocks sank in opening trade Tuesday amid worries about Greece's debt crisis and a US "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and tax hikes at year-end expected to drag the economy into recession.
In the first five minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 49.53 points (0.39 percent) at 12,765.55.
The broad-market S&P 500 dropped 7.75 points (0.56 percent) to 1,372.28, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite skidded 24.82 (0.85 percent) to 2,879.43.
"The fiscal cliff concern hasn't gone away... (and) the concerns about Greece are still present," Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com said in a client note.
"The only clear thing right now is that there is a lot of uncertainty and that there isn't a headline today so far that is the equivalent of a game-changer."
On Monday US stocks closed flat as investors weighed fiscal cliff fears and eurozone debt concerns.
