US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Little Changed As Investors Brace For Tuesday's Election
The Wall Street opened nearly flat as focus shifts to the US presidential elections. S&P 500 opened at 5,725.15, down by three points as against Friday's close of 5,728.8.
The main US stock market indices were little changed at the opening bell as investors remained on the edge to see the impact of the Donald trump versus Kamala Harris presidential elections on Tuesday.
S&P 500 opened nearly flat at 5,725.15, down by around three points as against Friday's close of 5,728.8. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid marginally by 0.1% to 18,220.43.
The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average shed fractionally to open 0.09% lower at 42,477.51.
Out of the 11 S&P 500 sectoral indices, six were in the green and five in the red shortly after the US markets opened. The gains were led by materials and energy, whereas utilities and telecom headed the drags.
In the early trade, shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was among the major laggards, as they slipped 2.83% to $439.39 apiece. On the other side, Nvidia Corp. was a notable gainer, as its stock advanced 1.63% to $137.61 on Dow Jones inclusion.
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Dollar dipped against major currencies, with the Bloomberg dollar spot index felling 0.6%. The British pound was up 0.45% at 1.2981 against the greenback, whereas the Euro gained 0.64% to 1.0903.
Bitcoin, which has gained significantly in the run-up to the US elections on hopes of looser regulations in case of a Trump win, slipped 1.1% after the Wall Street opened. The world's largest traded cryptocurrency was valued at $68,372.37 at 9:45 a.m. (EST).
In the commodities market, gold continued to edge higher. Spot gold was trading 0.3% higher at $2,743 an ounce at 9:50 a.m. (EST), whereas the metal's futures on the Comex edged 0.17% higher at $2,753.8.
Crude oil, which was trading higher since earlier in the day, maintained the momentum as the Wall Street opened. Futures of Brent, the global crude benchmark, was trading 2.6% higher at $75 per barrel. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.7% to $71.39 a barrel.
Before the US stock market opened, its Asian peer settled on a mixed note. China's Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.17% and 0.3%, respectively, but Japan's Nikkei 225 slumped 2.63%. The Indian markets recorded their worst session in over a month, with the NSE Nifty 50 sliding by 1.27%.
