US open: Mixed start to trading ahead of earnings deluge

Wall Street trading got off to a mixed start on Monday, with attention remaining focused on the Federal Reserve as hopes of a 50 basis point cut to interest rates began to fade.

At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down at 0.01% at 27,150.55, while the S&P 500 was up 0.22% at 2,983.14 and the Nasdaq Composite started out the session 0.59% stronger at 8,194.42.

The Dow opened 3.65 points lower after a Wall Street Journal report on Friday suggested that a more cautious 25 basis point cut was likely following comments from multiple officials from the central bank.

Oanda's Craig Elam said: "Much of the attention recently has been on the Fed, with stock markets it seems heavily reliant on the central bank to cut interest rates multiple times this year.

"Bullard further attempted to pare back expectations for a 50 basis point cut next week, claiming he would like to cut by 25, adding that he sees no need for 50. Given that he's among the most dovish policymakers and possible the most dovish voter on the FOMC currently, it's surprising that a 50 basis point cut is still 20% priced in."

Donald Trump, a long-time critic of the Fed, called on the central bank to make "deeper" cuts at its next meeting.

"It is far more costly for the Federal Reserve to cut deeper if the economy actually does, in the future, turn down! Very inexpensive, in fact productive, to move now," tweeted Trump.

"The Fed raised and tightened far too much & too fast. In other words, they missed it (big!). Don't miss it again!"

On the corporate from, earnings were in focus again, with around 25% of the S&P 500 reporting before the end of the week, including the likes of Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar and Boeing.

Halliburton shares were up 7.04% in early trade despite seeing profits plunge 85% on impairment and severance charges, while Equifax inched ahead 0.79% after coming to a $700m settlement stemming from a 2017 data breach with federal regulators.

Whirlpool and RPM International were also set to report on Monday.

In terms of data, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index ticked up last month but couldn't free itself from a negative reading.

For June, the index was -0.02, up from -0.03 the month before.