Wall Street pushes lower at the opening for third straight day

• Defensive sectors continue to capitalize on risk-off flows.
• The selling pressure on the major equity indexes seems to have eased slightly.

Wall Street's three main indexes all erased more than 1.5% on Wednesday and continued to push lower at the opening on Thursday. Minutes after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was falling 0.2% on the day while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were both 0.1%.

Among the 11-major S&P 500 sectors, the Industrials and the Materials indexes continue to underperform amid concerns over the contraction in the manufacturing sector's business activity. 

On the other hand, the defensive sectors, Real Estate, Utilities, and Consumer Staples, post gains in the early trade to reflect the sour market sentiment.