US open: Stocks lower following banner week for Dow Jones

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Major indices traded lower at the open on Monday following a banner week that saw the blue-chip Dow Jones register more than 800 points in gains.

As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.18% at 31,443.48, while the S&P 500 was 0.25% softer at 3,901.78 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.45% weaker at 11,555.46.

The Dow opened 57.20 points lower on Monday, taking a small bite out of solid gains recorded throughout the preceding week.

Investors were still focussed on whether or not US stocks have now reached their bottom or if markets were simply rebounding from oversold conditions ahead of the end of the second quarter.

The bond market was also in focus at the bell on Monday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note trading a little more than three basis points higher at 3.172%.

On the macro front, orders in the US for goods made to last more than three years rose more quickly than expected last month. According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, durable goods orders grew at a month-on-month clip of 0.7% in May (consensus: 0.1%).

April's gain, on the other hand, was revised down by one-tenth of a percentage point to show a rise of 0.4%. Excluding orders from the transportation sector, which are often volatile from one month to the next, May's tally for durable goods orders also beat forecasts, rising by 0.7% (consensus: 0.4%).

Elsewhere, US pending home sales rose 0.7% in May, according to the National Association of Realtors, snapping a six-month run of declines but were still 13.6% weaker year-on-year.

On the corporate front, Spirit Airlines was in focus after Frontier Airlines sweetened its offer for the company by $2.00 to $4.13 in cash, while Nike was also expected to be in the spotlight ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings after the close.

Coinbase was sharply lower in early trade after Goldman Sachs reportedly cut its rating on the shares to 'sell' from 'buy'.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $94.39 1.35%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $187.91 1.30%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $146.62 1.28%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $142.98 0.65%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $497.78 0.43%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $167.14 0.25%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $283.66 0.23%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $141.99 0.23%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $41.68 0.07%
American Express Co. (AXP) $146.21 0.04%