US open: Stocks slightly mixed amid debt ceiling caution
Investors on Wall Street returned in a cautious mood from the Memorial Day break as the most aggressive Republicans and Democrats vowed to oppose the debt ceiling deal agreed over the weekend between the President and conservative leaders.
Against that backdrop, as of 1638 BST the Dow Jones Industrials Average was trading down 0.35% at 32,977.63, but the S&P 500 was up by 0.18% to 4,212.86.
The Nasdaq Composite was 0.70% stronger at 13,066.13.
"In a perhaps unsurprising development, it has proven impossible to maintain the sunny optimism of Friday, when markets surged on news of a debt ceiling deal in principle," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"While it is still likely that a deal will pass Congress without too many hiccoughs, the risk of a delayed passage has meant that stocks have not seen the triumphant progress to the end of May that seemed likely last week."
A key vote in the House of Representatives was scheduled for Wednesday, but already on Tuesday the deal would face the House Rules Committee which controlled proceedings on the floor of that chamber.
There were also several Republicans in the Senate who could try to delay passage despite the risk that the government could run out of cash by 5 June.
On the corporate front, Nvidia climbed 6% after the technology company’s founder and chief executive Jensen Huang unveiled a series of new products and partnerships in a speech at a Taiwan tech trade show.
At one point during the session the chip-maker's market value breached the $1trn mark.
Elsewhere, Ford shares were rising 4% after Jefferies lifted its stance on the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.
"Last week's investor event in Dearborn raised our confidence that Ford finally has the plan and the team in place to close a deficit of execution that has dogged shares for years," the bank said. It added that the gap between Ford's ambitions a consensus stuck below 6% is attractive and said it expects sequential improvements across divisions.
Economic data was a bit mixed.
The S&P Case-Shiller home price index rose for a second straight month in March, increasing by 0.4% versus February.
On the other hand, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index dipped from a reading of 103.7 for April to 102.3 in May.
The proportion of consumers reporting that jobs were 'plentiful' fell by four percentage points to 43.5%.
"However, expectations for jobs and incomes over the next six months held relatively steady," the survey compiler said.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas's regional manufacturing sector index meanwhile retreated from -23.4 in April to -29.1 for May - a three-year low (consensus: -19.5).
Dow Jones - Risers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $29.58 2.00%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $177.00 0.89%
Boeing Co. (BA) $205.40 0.87%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $217.12 0.78%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $50.10 0.47%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $146.86 0.30%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
American Express Co. (AXP) $156.93 -0.20%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $171.95 -0.20%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $154.00 -0.23%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $48.95 -2.76%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $142.71 -1.85%
Visa Inc. (V) $221.11 -1.73%
3M Co. (MMM) $95.28 -1.71%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $109.43 -1.48%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $208.71 -1.46%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $151.92 -1.40%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $59.59 -1.11%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $289.63 -1.09%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $328.80 -0.97%
S&P 500 - Risers
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $858.53 5.64%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $410.12 5.30%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $396.02 4.52%
Ford Motor Co. (F) $12.60 4.22%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $460.88 3.63%
Arista Networks Inc. (ANET) $175.71 3.14%
Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS) $131.80 2.98%
Ansys Inc. (ANSS) $328.83 2.95%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $113.42 2.78%
Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) $178.39 2.52%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Comerica Inc. (CMA) $35.69 -8.46%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $18.96 -5.34%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $14.48 -3.82%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $60.06 -3.57%
Apache Corp. (APA) $32.23 -3.53%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $32.71 -3.49%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $46.40 -3.47%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $14.79 -3.40%
VF Corp. (VFC) $17.46 -3.26%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $22.53 -3.14%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $858.53 5.64%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $410.12 5.30%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $396.02 4.52%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $460.88 3.63%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $199.15 3.10%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $113.42 2.78%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $233.24 2.15%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $29.58 2.00%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $80.00 1.70%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $121.42 1.09%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.85 -10.67%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $85.58 -4.38%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $60.06 -3.57%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $31.94 -3.51%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $73.04 -2.78%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $322.13 -2.38%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,530.56 -2.34%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $105.65 -2.33%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $123.18 -2.30%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $9.60 -2.29%