US open: Wall Street mixed as markets wait on Senate tax reform proposal

Wall Street is trading on a mixed note amid conflicting reports on the likely timing and exact content of any White House tax reform proposal ahead of the anticipated Senate proposal later this week or early during the next one.

"It's very unlikely that we get the bill passed before Thanksgiving. Instead we might see something around the Holiday Season or possibly as late as early next year depending on how contentious it is. [...] So all in all expect this to rumble on for some time," said Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank.

Against that backdrop, as of 1550 GMT the Dow Jones Industrials Average was unchanged at 23,549.23, while the S&P 500 was edging higher by 0.03% or 0.79 points to 2,591.90 with the Nasdaq Composite down by 0.20% or 13.59 points at 6,773.14.

For his part, CMC Markets UK's David Madden said: "The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 all reached new record highs shortly after the open of trading in the US. The equity benchmarks are off the highs of the session, but the bullish sentiment is still doing the rounds. It seems that every new day brings a new record high for the US equity benchmarks."

On the economic front, the Federal reserve's job opening and labour turnover summary for September printed at 6.09m (consensus: 5.98m), while the IBD/TIPP economic optimism index jumped from a reading of 50.3 for September to 53.6 in October.

To take note of, Janet Yellen was due to deliver a speech at 1930 GMT in Washington.

Weekly crude inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute was scheduled for release at 2130 GMT.

In corporate news, Priceline and TripAdvisor were trading sharply lower on the heels of their most quarterly earnings updates delivered late on Monday.

Stock in e-commerce group Etsy was also slipping despite having said on Monday that it had swung to a profit in the third quarter.

Tech icon Apple was also in the headlines as the Cupertino, California-based giant issued $7.0bn of debt maturing in between 2 and 30 years to finance its share buybacks and dividend payouts.

Dean Foods was going the other way, with stock in the company shooting higher after management lowered its outlook for full-year earnings per share by less than had been feared, to between 80 and 90 cents from a range of between 80 to 95 cents (consensus: 79 cents).

Shares in Royal Carribean Cruises were also advancing after the firm posted third quarter EPS of $3.49 (consensus: $3.40).

Meanwhile, investors were digesting reports that Disney was in talks with 21st Century Fox over the sale of a large part of its operations, including its share of Sky.