Wall Street opens on a mixed footing

As expected, the main Wall Street made an uneven start to Tuesday’s session, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 falling behind in early trading. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53% to 29,313, while the S&P 500 was down 0.06% at 3,548 and the Nasdaq fell 0.48% to 11,657. US equities seem to be a little cautious following Monday’s blockbuster rally after labor data from several European countries showed the pandemic’s effects on the world’s economies are continuing to drag on growth and are likely to continue after a vaccine allows life to return to some semblance of normalcy. Political concerns may also be giving some traders pause for thought after Trump’s attorney general William Barr told federal prosecutors to begin investigating “substantial allegations” of voter fraud in last week’s election despite a lack of evidence of any fraud being committed. Such an unconventional move has raised fears that the post-election legal dispute could drag on into the new year with Trump refusing to concede defeat on November 3. 7.52am: Wall Street poised for mixed open  For once, the NASDAQ looks like being the runt of the litter when trading starts in the US later today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open 172 points firmer at 29,330 while the NASDAQ Composite is seen opening 67 points softer at 11,647. The S&P 500 is also expected to open lower, at 3,543 – down 8 points. Earlier today. the NFIB index of small business activity and sentiment was unchanged at 104.0 in October, a smidgen below the consensus forecast of 104.1. “Downward pressure from the key labor market numbers - hiring intentions fell five points, reversing the August and September gains - and a five-point drop in economic expectations offset gains elsewhere,” said Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “Earnings expectations jumped for the third straight month, up nine points, and sales expectations and inventories rose modestly too. Capex plans dipped a point, but are still close to the pre-Covid trend. Next month, though, we expect to see a sharp deterioration in the survey,” Shepherdson said. Later on today, traders will be focusing on the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey – commonly known as JOLTS. Five things to watch for on Tuesday: Share price reaction from e-commerce giant Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) will be in focus following news the company has been hit with new antitrust charges by the European Union over merchant data Meanwhile, fast food giant McDonald’s Corp (NYSE:MCD) may also receive a boost after it announced it will be bringing out a range of vegan products next year. On the flipside, vegan meat maker Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) may be bracing for more losses after the company fell well short of forecasts in its third quarter results Macro data will provide some interest with the JOLTs Job Openings figures for September. The figure is predicted to fall to 6.2mln from 6.49mln in August There are few big names on the results front, however, some investors may be interested in fourth quarter earnings from industrial automation and IT group Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK)