By Ovunc Kutlu
ANKARA (AA) – US stocks were mixed at the opening Wednesday with expected inflation data creating uncertainty for markets.
The Dow Jones was down 35 to 34,564 at 9.41 a.m. EDT (1341GMT) as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan shaved 1.2% each.
The S&P 500 was mostly flat — adding just 3 points to 4,230; electric carmaker Tesla added 0.7%.
The Nasdaq was the early winner, rising 50 to 13,974 with Twitter and Pfizer adding 1.3% apiece.
Investors are awaiting the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report that will be released Thursday which is one of the significant inflation indicators the Federal Reserve closely follows. The data will be key for the Fed to decide when to raise interest rates which could come during its meeting next week.
The CPI soared 4.2% in April, from the same month a year ago, and marked its sharpest rise since September 2008. Analysts expect a 4.7% increase year-over-year in May.
Shortly after the opening bell, the VIX volatility index was down 0.5% to 16.98. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note declined 3.6% to 1.472%.
The dollar index, which shows the strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was also down 0.2% to 89.85.
Precious metals continued to rise as gold added 0.2% to $1,897 per ounce, and silver rose 1.2% to $27.96.
After plummeting 11% on Tuesday, Bitcoin recovered 7.7% to $34,900.
