US open: Stocks trade lower, S&P 500 still on track for seventh consecutive winning month

Wall Street stocks were slightly lower after the bell on Tuesday, but the S&P 500 was still on track to turn in its seventh consecutive winning month.

As of 1545 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.08% at 35,370.52, while the S&P 500 was also 0.08% weaker at 4,524.97 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.19% softer at 15,236.88.

The Dow Jones opened 29.32 points lower on Tuesday, extending losses recorded by the blue-chip index in the previous session.

A number of data points were in focus early on Tuesday.

First off, average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the US soared 18.6% year-on-year in June, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index, the largest annual gain in history. The 10-City composite rose 18.5%, up from 16.6% in the prior month, while the 20-City composite was 19.1% higher year-on-year, up from 17.1% in May. Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle saw the steepest price increases of the 20 cities in the survey, while prices in every city, except Chicago, were at all-time highs.

Elsewhere, economic activity in the Chicago area deteriorated a little more than expected in August, according to data released on Tuesday. The MNI Chicago business barometer fell to 66.8 from 73.4 in July, missing expectations for a reading of 68.0. This marked the lowest reading since June, after climbing to a two-month high in July.

Lastly, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index declined in August, down almost 12 points from the previous month's print at 113.8, its lowest level since February, driven by fears surrounding the Covid-19 delta variant, as well as rising gas and food prices.

Also in focus, word from the Pentagon that it had finished its evacuation efforts from Kabul's airport, and Hurricane Ida's ravaging of New Orleans.

In the corporate space, Zoom shares were down almost 16% in early trading after revealing that second-quarter revenues had slowed despite raising guidance and beating on earnings as a result of the worsening Covid-19 pandemic.

No major earnings were slated for release.