US open: Stocks mixed as investors await Thursday's CPI reading

Wall Street stocks were mixed early on Tuesday as major indices seemed to be searching for direction ahead of key inflation data set to be released later in the week.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.20% at 34,559.81, while the S&P 500 was 0.05% softer at 4,224.32 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.35% higher at 13,930.58.

The Dow opened 70.43 points lower on Tuesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session despite ongoing optimism regarding the US economy reopening in the summer.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were both somewhat muted at the open as market participants continued to look ahead to last month's consumer price index on Thursday following last week's jobs report, which revealed the US had added fewer jobs than originally expected in May but the unemployment rate had dropped to 5.8% from 6.1%.

On the macro front, confidence among US small businesses weakened last month, driven lower by concerns about staff shortages and rising inflation. The closely-watched National Federation of Independent Business optimism index declined by 0.2 points to reach 99.6 in May, from 99.8 in April. It was also below consensus, for around 101.0, and the first fall after three consecutive months of rises.

Elsewhere, the US trade balance for April came in at $69.9bn, according to the Census Department, slightly wider than the expected print of $69.7bn but down from March's print of $75.0bn as imports dropped 1.4% to $273.9bn and exports rose 1.1% to $205.0bn. Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit has increased $94.5bn or 50.5% year-on-year. However, the 2020 deficit was largely impacted from Covid-19-related lockdown measures.

Lastly, job openings surged to a new record high in April, hitting 9.3m during the month as the US economy rapidly bounced back from its Covid-19 pandemic lows, according to the Labor Department's job openings and labour turnover survey. The April print was also well above the 8.3m new jobs added in March- itself a series high going back to 2000.

In the corporate space, Tesla shares accelerated after saying it had delivered 33,463 China-made vehicles in May, a 29% jump from April, while Delta Air Lines was also in the green on the back of an upgrade from analysts at Jefferies.

Boeing also climbed after Southwest Airlines agreed to increase its order for the firm's smallest 737 Max model by almost three-dozen planes amid a bounce back in travel demand, while "meme stocks" AMC Entertainment, Clover Health and Wendy's all rallied.