US open: Mixed start to trading, Dow on track for fifth consecutive daily win

dl wall street st new york city nyc nyse stock exchange ny dow jones nasdaq sp finance us usa united states of america — Wall StreetSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street trading got off to a mixed start on Tuesday as the blue-chip Dow Jones looks to register its fifth positive session in a row.

As of 1540 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.24% at 38,946.54 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.15% firmer at 5,188.27, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.07% to 16,337.12.

The Dow opened 94.27 points higher on Tuesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session as sentiment continued to get a boost from last week's nonfarm payrolls data thanks to the combination of higher unemployment and weaker-than-expected payrolls and average earnings figures.

ARJ Capital's Manoj Ladwa said: "The data marks the first drop in the NFP reading since last year. The data has fed into a move lower in USD with traders sensing that Fed easing expectations will likely take on fresh focus in the coming months. Continued robust growth in the US jobs market has been one of the key drivers of the bullish USD story in recent months.

"With jobs seeing a sharp slowdown in growth and with wages weakening too, traders will now be closely watching incoming inflation and inflation-linked data. The Fed has signalled its desire to press ahead with easing, but is so far being hindered by sticky inflation. With jobs growth slowing now, however, a fresh drop in inflation should see traders bringing forward Fed easing to September again, weighing on USD.

In the corporate space, media giant Disney posted better-than-expected quarterly numbers on Monday afternoon, revealing that its streaming business had nearly broken even during Q1, while Palantir shares were down double-digits on weaker-than-expected guidance, and Peloton stock rallied on news that private equity firms were mulling a buyout of the fitness company.

On the macro front, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis head Neel Kashkari will deliver a speech at 1630 BST.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $347.31 1.52%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $31.42 1.45%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $184.10 1.32%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $17.47 1.22%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $278.46 1.03%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $60.48 1.02%
Visa Inc. (V) $274.68 0.74%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $344.76 0.72%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $94.01 0.70%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $149.59 0.68%