US open: Stocks mixed as Chinese data, Fed comments remain in focus

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

Wall Street stocks were mixed early on Monday as Chinese data and comments from the Fed's Neel Kashkari were in focus at the bell.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.05% at 32,828.31, while the S&P 500 was 0.03% weaker at 4,129.25 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.35% stronger at 12,433.54.

The Dow opened 16.82 points lower on Monday, taking only a small bite out of gains recorded in the final session of the Street's best week since 2020.

Second quarter earnings season remains in full effect this week, with software outfit Activision Blizzard updating on its most recent trading performance after the close, while ride-sharing giant Uber and trade bellwether Caterpillar will report before the week is out, as will Starbucks, Eli Lilly, and Amgen.

Data out of China was also drawing an amount of investor attention at the open, with the nation's recent rebound beginning to stall, with the Chinese Manufacturing PMI dropping into contraction territory to print at 49 - down from its previous reading of 50.2.

Market participants were also digesting comments from the Federal Reserve's Neel Kashkari over the weekend, with the central banker stating the Fed, which hiked rates by 75 basis points last week, was committed to bringing inflation down to 2%, something that would require US interest rates going into the double-digit territory and that the process of front loading hasn't come to an end just yet.

On the macro front, S&P Global's manufacturing was revised slightly lower to 52.2 in July, down from a preliminary reading of 52.3, pointing to the lowest factory growth since July 2020 as output dropped for the first time since June 2020 amid weaker demand conditions, difficulties finding candidates to fill vacancies and raw material shortages

Elsewhere, the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing PMI dipped to 52.8 in July, down from 53 in June and beating market forecasts for a print of 52.

Finally, US construction spending fell by 1.1% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.76trn in June, according to the Census Bureau, up from a revised 0.1% increase in May. Private construction spending contracted 1.3%, while public construction spending shrank 0.5%.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Boeing Co. (BA) $168.31 5.65%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $37.28 2.69%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $140.54 1.18%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $303.85 0.97%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $133.18 0.86%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $64.69 0.82%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $39.91 0.73%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $131.32 0.41%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $263.85 0.18%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $162.67 0.10%