NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are opening modestly lower as indexes in Europe and China recover from a slump the previous day.

Energy stocks declined the most early Wednesday as the price of crude oil dropped again. Chevron and Exxon Mobil fell the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average.

The Dow was down 90 points, 0.5 percent, to 17,712 as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell eight points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,051. The Nasdaq composite fell nine points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,756.

The price of crude oil sank $1.56 to $62.26 a barrel in New York.

Government bond prices edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.22 percent.