US open: Stocks mixed as USD surges

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 trading got off to a mixed start on Monday as a surging dollar and heightened bond yields took centre stage.

As of 1510 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31% at 29,497.79, while the S&P 500 was 0.10% firmer at 3,696.87 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.98% stronger at 10,974.40.

The Dow opened 96.62 points lower on Monday, extending losses recorded at the end of last week amid concerns that the central bank's aggressive monetary policy may send the US economy into a recession.

In focus early on Monday was news that the British pound dropped to a record low against the US dollar, with Sterling falling 4% to an all-time low of $1.0382 as the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, paired with tax cuts announced by the UK last week caused the greenback to surge. The euro also hit its lowest level against the dollar in two decades.

The bond market was also drawing an amount of investor attention at the opening bell, with the 2-year Treasury note up slightly at 4.218%, while its benchmark 10-year counterpart was more than eight basis points higher at 3.77%.

On the macro front, the Chicago Fed's national activity index fell to 0 in August, down from a five-month high of 0.29 in July, pointing to a moderation in overall economic growth during the month.

Elsewhere, Boston Fed president Susan Collins, Atlanta head Raphael Bostic and Cleveland president Loretta Mester were all set to deliver speeches throughout the course of the day.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Monday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $150.13 2.12%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $152.16 1.15%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $239.71 0.75%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $100.19 0.70%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $272.80 0.69%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $40.84 0.44%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $164.76 0.31%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $122.90 0.15%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $27.56 0.13%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $43.95 0.11%