US open: All eyes on Fed speakers

Wall Street is trading on a mixed note come Monday, following a solid performance last week as traders wait on multiple Fed speakers.

At 1729 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was 0.12% lower to 25,264.46, while the S&P 500 was clinging on to a marginal gain, trading up by 0.01% to 2,743.47.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was 0.20% higher to 7,150.50.

From a sector standpoint, the best performance was being seen in the following industry groups: Drug retailers (2.32%), Medical supplies (2.09%) and Paper (2.08%).

In a session bereft of fresh economic reports, the market spotlight was on the potential for market-moving remarks from three top Fed officials.

Thus, speaking on the subject of the US economic outlook, the president of the Federal Reserve bank of Atlanta, Raphael Bostic reportedly said that the US central bank might not need to hike interest rates three times in 2018 because of weak inflation.

Ahead of his remarks, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, had told clients: "Perhaps today's Federal Reserve speakers will provide the catalyst for a move higher in the dollar, with John Williams, Raphael Bostic and Eric Rosengren all making appearances. Williams and Bostic will both be voters on the FOMC this year and so their views will be very closely monitored and could have an impact, although with Jerome Powell set to succeed Janet Yellen as Chair next month and a number of roles still to be filled, there remains an element of uncertainty when it comes to Fed policy going forward.

"While there is a number of key data releases that will be closely monitored this week, the bulk of these will come later on, most notably US retail sales and CPI inflation on Friday. Friday will also mark the start of earnings season which will be a key focus for investors over the coming weeks now that tax reform is over the line."

Still on Monday's calendar, San Francisco Fed chief John Williams was due top take to the podium at 1835 GMT, followed by his opposite number at the Boston Fed, Rosengren, at 2100 GMT.

In corporate news, Nvidia was on the up after the chip maker announced a partnership with Uber to provide the company with self-driving hardware, amid reports of a similar deal with Volkswagen.

Elsewhere, biotech company Celgene was also in the black after announcing a deal to buy biotechnology group Impact Biomedicines for up to $7bn.

Lululemon was on the other hand were trading lower even after lifting its fourth-quarter profit and revenue forecasts.