U.S. stocks sank early Monday, with the S&P 500 dropping 1% at the open, the Nasdaq sliding 1.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 297 points, or about 0.6%. The VIX spiked 13% and gold pushed higher,

Stock futures pointed lower on Sunday evening as investors weighed fresh warnings on U.S. debt and the potential for President Donald Trump's trade war to heat up again. Late Friday, Moody's downgraded the U.

Stocks closed largely unchanged on Monday despite a downgrade of U.S. credit, which triggered a spike in debt yields and threatened to raise borrowing costs throughout the nation's economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 137 points,