Twitter dives as US stocks open lower

US stocks retreated in opening trade Thursday as Twitter shares plunged on a report that Google and other leading tech giants will not bid for the company.

Twitter dived 15.8 percent after technology news site Recode said Google had no plans to bid for the social media company. Apple and Disney are also sitting out the auction process, the article said.

Petroleum-linked equities gained after US oil prices shot above $50 a barrel for the first time since June.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,218.85, down 0.3 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent at 2,155.32, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.3 percent at 5,302.48.