US open: Mixed markets on a quiet day for economic data

US stocks were mixed on Tuesday on a day with very little economic data amid the Greek presidential election.

Shortly after the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.09% to 18,038.23, the S&P 500 increased 0.09% while Nasdaq dropped 0.03%.

Financial analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex said: “Whilst the Dow is still trading above the 18,000 level, it is slowly approaching a dip below this mark; if US consumer confidence figures arrive lower than expected, then the US index could lose the ground it gained before Christmas.”

Crude futures were receding early on as WTI crude futures opened around 0.056% down at $53.58 a barrel, while Brent futures opened fell 0.504% to $57.59 a barrel.

Campbell noted: “The markets’ recent nemesis, oil, returned with a vengeance this morning, after hopes that damage to Libyan oil ports would stem Brent Crude’s plunge proved to be false. Instead the commodity ignored this Libyan attack, choosing to focus on intimidating US oil forecasts which caused fresh 5 and a half year lows for the black stuff.”

Over on COMEX, gold futures were rising 1.28% to $1,197.00 while the dollar was flailing against the pound, the yen and the euro.

The yield on a benchmark US 10-year Treasury was down three basis points at 2.17% as political uncertainty in Greece increased the demand for safe havens.

Greek parliament has failed to elect a president on Monday, triggering a snap general election on 25 January. Concerns about the increasing support for anti-austerity party Syriza caused bond yields in Greece to soar on Monday to levels not seen since September 2013.

Meanwhile, in the corporate world Walt Disney declined 0.2% to $95.30 while Microsoft gained 0.15% to 47.52.