U.S. stocks open lower after three-day holiday weekend

U.S. stock indexes opened lower and struggled to continue the uptrend after scoring strong weekly gains in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s decision to refrain from raising interest rates again last week. The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.94%
dropped 18 points, or 0.4%, to 4,392, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-1.10%
fell 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.91%
was off 0.2%. In U.S. economic data, construction on new American homes jumped 21.7% in May, as homebuilders ramp up building single-family homes to meet strong demand from buyers. Housing starts rose to a 1.63 million annual pace last month from 1.34 million in April, the government said Tuesday. Disappointment over China’s stimulus measures also weighed on U.S. stocks. The People’s Bank of China cut two more key lending rates on Tuesday for the first time in 10 months in a bid to support the nation’s slowing economic recovery. The one-year loan prime rate was cut to 3.55% and the five-year rate was cut to 4.2%, according to the PBOC.