Wall Street opens on a weaker note after Paris tragedy; Europe mostly lower

Wall Street has opened in the red territory on Monday following a terrorist attack that killed 132 people in Paris and prompted France to escalate airstrikes in Syria.

Travel-related stocks were under pressure, while energy companies rose following recovery in oil prices.

The S&P 500 opened 3 points, or 0.2%, lower at 2,019. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 30 points, or 0.2%, to 17,218. The Nasdaq Composite began the day down 14 points, or 0.3%, at 4,914.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. shares were each down 2.6%. At the same time, the U.S. Global Jets ETF dropped 1.5%.

“Terrorism + leisure travel. Great shame to have to say again that the two don’t mix. Plans, even if only at the margin, will be changed,” said Langton Capital, a U.K.-based leisure specialist advisory, on Twitter.

In Europe, stocks were mixed Monday, with the travel sector under pressure. London's FTSE 100 is the only gauge in the green, up 0.42%.

Investors have knocked more than 2.5bn euros off the combined value of Europe’s travel industry so far today.

Most of today’s selloff has been focused on companies on the STOXX 60 Travel & Leisure index, with the Air France stock being the biggest loser, down 6.19%.

French hotel group AccorHotels SA lost 5.1% and Aeroports de Paris SA, which runs Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, gave up 3.8% on the Europe 600 index.

The selloff highlights concerns that this sector will suffer from lower consumer confidence.

Gregoire Laverne, fund manager at Roche Brune Asset Management, told Reuters:

"Paris is one of the most important cities worldwide in terms of luxury spending and the timing is not good too - a few weeks before Christmas, the most important period for retailers."