Wall Street opens on a mixed footing as Dow lags

The main indices on Wall Street have started the week on a mixed note as the opening bell rang in New York on Monday. In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.24% to 32,551 while the S&P 500 climbed 0.06% to 3,915 and the Nasdaq rose 0.78% to 13,318. Traders seem somewhat unsure of which way to turn, however with bond yields retreating and comments expected from Fed chair Jerome Powell later today the mood could find a more solid outlook. However, the macro picture may not be off to the best start as the Chicago Fed national activity index reported a fall to -1.09 in February, its first negative reading since April last year. 8:00am: Wall Street set for mixed open As often seems to be the case these days, the Dow Jones is the odd one out among US indices, with the index set to open lower. Spread betting quotes suggest the Dow will dip 19 points to 32,609, leaving it out of step with the broader-based S&P 500, which is set to pen around 5 points firmer at 3,918 and the tech-laced Nasdaq 100, which is looking at a 98 point advance to 12,965. “Risk markets are taking a short breather from last week risk-off and oil is stabilising,” said Stephen Innes, the chief global market strategist at Axi. “Still, the swift moves in yields showed the Fed's complacency around upcoming inflation might have unintended and lasting consequences. “It’s a busy week ahead, so the pause makes sense as markets will continue to digest the reopening boom and higher yields cycle through the lens of a series of crucial and timely PMI releases. “There will also be a healthy heaping of Fedspeak this week, including two appearances by Fed Chair Powell, which will be sure to keep investors on their toes,” Innes added. The Federal Reserve’s chair, Jerome Powell, is set to speak today as part of a panel on central bank innovation. Let joy be unconfined. On the US macro front, existing home sales data is set to be released today, with the market expecting February’s number to slip to 6.5mln from 6.69mln in January. “US existing home sales are expected to be down 2.8% mom [month-on-month]. This is a bit less than tomorrow’s new home sales, which are forecast to be down 5.2% mom; however I think people are likely to ignore these figures or at least discount their importance as being heavily affected by the bad weather during the month,” suggested Marshall Gittler at BDSwiss. Three things to watch for on Monday: Firms in the earnings diary at the start of the week include B2B IT services firm SYNNEX Corp (NYSE:SNX), software group Viant Technology Inc (NASDAQ:DSP) and agricultural products maker Raven industries Inc (NASDAQ:RAVN) The ongoing non-fungible token (NFT) craze also seems likely to get a look in as an NFT auction over the first-ever Tweet, made 15 eyars ago by Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey, enters its final day of bidding There could also be interest on the geopolitical front amid the ongoing fallout in Turkey after its strongman president Recep Tayipp Erdogan sacked the country’s central bank chief, sending the value of the lira currency tumbling