US open: Stocks flat ahead of Fed speakers

Wall Street was trading on a mixed note with the Dow Jones Industrials having pulled back from a fresh record high as traders waited on speeches from two top US central bank officials.

The Dow Industrials had begun the session higher, hitting a fresh record high - at 22,109.61 - for a ninth consecutive session as the US dollar slipped again.

Yet in the background, some 'market chatter' over the weekend highlighted the increasingly narrow breadth of gains in the stockmarket.

As of 1625 BST, the Dow Industrials was nearly flat, giving back 0.11 points to 22,093, alongside a 0.85 point advance for the S&P 500 to 2,477.84 while the Nasdaq Composite was gaining 0.05% or 28.54 points to 6,380.15.

From a sector standpoint, the best performance was to be seen in the following industrial groups: Coal (3.95%), Aluminum (1.98%), Industrial suppliers (1.82%), Iron & Steel (1.47%) and Automobiles (1.45%).

In parallel, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were off by 1.79% to $48.71 a barrel on the ICE. That followed news that full production had been restored at Libya's main oilfield, Sharara, following its closure at the weekend due to armed protests.

Meanwhile, the US dollar spot index had pared early losses to trade down by just 0.08% to 93.47.

There was little in terms of market-moving data scheduled for release on Monday, meaning that the two Fed speakers which were set to take to the podium, St.Louis Fed chief James Bullard at 1500 BST and Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari at 1925 BST, were left figuring all the more prominently on the calendar.

Ahead of their speeches, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "Two of the more dovish members of the Fed that have already voiced concerns about [the pace of policy tightening] will be appearing on Monday. Neel Kashkari and James Bullard are both scheduled to speak today and I would be surprised if their concerns will have been eased by Friday’s numbers.

"That said, with only Kashkari being a voting member on the FOMC and a known dove, there may be little to take away from the comments, unless of course he either strikes and unlikely hawkish tone or suggests others are coming around to his way of thinking."

To take note of as well, Pyongyang was irate following news that the United Nations's Security Council had slapped fresh economic sanctions on the regime over the weekend, vowing in a written response "thousands-fold revenge" on Washington.

In corporate news, shares in MyoKardia surged 80% after disclosing positive mid-stage trial data for its heart muscle disease treatment.

Horizon Pharma was also on the front foot after the company raised its sales guidance for 2017.

NxStage rocketed alongside following news of a takeover bid from Germany's Fresenius.

Electric-car manufacturer Tesla was planning a debut bond sale, with the company expected to sell $1.5bn in senior unsecured notes maturing in 2025.

Tyson Foods posted forecast-beating third quarter revenues of $9.85bn for earnings per share of $1.28.

Snapon announced a $500m share repurchase authorisation.

Dow Jones - Risers

Boeing Co. (BA) $240.12 1.01%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $157.81 0.91%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $81.12 0.80%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $231.18 0.60%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $154.62 0.52%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $45.67 0.38%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $153.30 0.36%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $59.89 0.22%
Visa Inc. (V) $101.10 0.21%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $90.83 0.18%

Dow Jones - Fallers

United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $118.93 -2.11%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $142.89 -1.56%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $33.35 -0.85%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.57 -0.81%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $107.15 -0.50%
3M Co. (MMM) $206.69 -0.46%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $81.75 -0.32%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $72.48 -0.28%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $31.72 -0.27%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $80.01 -0.24%

S&P 500 - Risers

Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $66.75 5.45%
Rockwell Collins Inc. (COL) $123.95 4.16%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $91.94 3.51%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $154.37 2.88%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $171.79 2.74%
Qorvo, Inc. (QRVO) $68.42 2.70%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $24.17 2.63%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $14.73 2.19%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $198.63 2.14%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $43.71 2.08%

S&P 500 - Fallers

MetLife Inc. (MET) $48.31 -10.40%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $15.18 -4.38%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $5.07 -4.07%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $4.36 -3.64%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $17.27 -3.41%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $47.67 -3.38%
Hess Corp. (HES) $42.87 -3.34%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $32.08 -3.32%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $12.04 -3.14%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $12.51 -3.02%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $91.94 3.51%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $154.37 2.88%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $171.79 2.74%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $132.19 2.71%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $47.48 2.33%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $198.63 2.14%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $43.71 2.08%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $182.35 2.04%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $130.01 1.96%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $45.58 1.95%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Mylan Inc. (MYL) $31.99 -2.83%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $256.00 -1.72%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $18.69 -1.65%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $70.01 -1.64%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $28.77 -1.37%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $56.35 -1.12%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $61.89 -1.02%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $34.29 -0.92%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $32.99 -0.77%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class A (LILA) $26.14 -0.76%