US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones Open Flat As Post-US Election Rally Halts
The main Wall Street indices were little changed at the opening bell as traders seemed to assess the impact of new retail inflation data.
The US stock markets opened on a flat note on Wednesday, as the rally triggered by Donald Trump's presidential poll victory looks to halt.
S&P 500, the broader index, opened only 1.76 points higher at 5,985.75, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 5.06 points at 19,286.46 at the opening bell.
The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average edged fractionally lower at the start of the session, as it opened 0.7% lower at 43,880.46.
Among the 11 S&P 500 sectoral indices, six were trading positively and five were in the red. The gains were led by consumer discretionary and real estate, whereas telecom and industrials headed the drags.
The early gainers of the trade included Tesla Inc., whose shares rebounded by 4.31% to $342.6, and Spotify Technology SA. which jumped 9.9% to $461.85.
The sharpest slide in the first few minutes of trade was recorded by Spirit Airlines Inc, whose stock plunged by 60% to $1.26 on reports of bankruptcy preparations.
Shortly before the trading commenced on the Wall Street, the US retail inflation numbers were released. The consumer price index-based inflation rose 2.6% on-year in October, which was in-line with the estimates.
The dollar, which has been strengthening over the past week, was largely unchanged after the US markets opened. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was up 0.07% at 106.101. However, the 10-year Treasury yield declined by six basis points to 4.37%.
Gold prices, which showed signs of recovery since earlier in the day, edged higher after the US markets opened. Spot gold was trading 0.68% higher at 2,615.85 an ounce at 9:55 a.m. (EST). The US gold futures on Comex were trading 0.27% higher at $2,613.3 an ounce at the same time.
Bitcoin, the world's largest traded cryptocurrency, continued its ascent as it crossed the $90,000-mark. At 9:55 a.m., it was trading 5.2% higher at $91,576. The rally is driven by Donald Trump's election win, as he had stated during the campaign trail that his plan is to make the US the "crypto capital of the world".
Before the Wall Street opened, its Asian peers edged lower, barring China's Shanghai Composite Index which closed 0.51% higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.12%, Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 1.66% lower, and India's NSE Nifty 50 settled 1.36% lower.
