US: Stocks open flat after four-day record streak

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks opened essentially unchanged Tuesday after setting record closing highs for four straight sessions.

Five minutes after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.35 points (0.01 per cent) at 17,615.09.

The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.11 (0.01 per cent) to 2,038.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.77 (0.02 per cent) to 4,650.85.

The bond market and banks were closed in observance of the Veterans Day holiday.

"There isn't any economic data out of the US today, so market participants will be resigned to watch the movement in currencies and commodities for some extra trading motivation," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reported US$8 billion of goods were sold so far through its online payment arm Alipay in its first global Singles Day promotion on Tuesday, with more than three hours to go before the end of the promotion on midnight.

Shares in Alibaba, which completed the world's largest stock offering in September, fell 2.7 per cent.

AFP