US: Stocks pause ahead of earnings from tech giants

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks were mostly little changed early Monday, ahead of a deluge of earnings reports later in the week from many of the biggest US companies.

Tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft are among the firms reporting this week, along with other large companies like McDonald's and General Motors.

Investors have been pleased with most of the reports so far, which have confirmed worries about higher costs, but also offered encouraging commentary about strong consumer demand that is enabling many companies to pass on price increases.

Analysts also pointed to weekend statements from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, expressing confidence that congressional Democrats are near a deal on a large spending package.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down less than 0.1 per cent at 35,663.81.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent to 4,541.90, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was flat at 15,089.20.

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Both the Dow and S&P 500 hit records last week.

This week's calendar also includes reports on consumer confidence, durable goods orders and personal income and spending.

Among individual companies, Tesla shot up 5.1 per cent following an announcement that car rental company Hertz ordered 100,000 electric autos from Elon Musk's company in the latest embrace of electric car technology by the auto industry.

AFP