The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13.71 points, or 0.04%, at the open to 35,376.44.
The S&P 500 opened lower by 4.48 points, or 0.10%, at 4,554.86, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 11.55 points, or 0.08%, to 14,239.31 at the opening bell.
The Fed will get another big update this week when the government on Thursday releases its October report for a key inflation measure tracked by the central bank.
Tuesday’s consumer confidence report from the Conference Board will give economists data on how Americans are feeling about the economy as the holiday shopping season gets underway.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday France’s CAC 40 edged 0.1%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.3%.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 0.5% to finish at 33,447.67 after the producer price index in October came in a little higher than expected, at 2.3%.In China, industrial profits declined 7.8% in January-October compared with the year before. They rose 2.7% in October for a third monthly year-on-year increase, suggesting weakness in the economy. Industrial profits rose 11.9% year-on-year in September and 17.2% in August.
“While conditions have been improving, it also indicates that recovery has been slow. From the series of economic data lately, recovery momentum has also been on-and-off,” YeJun Rong, a market analyst at IG, said in a commentary.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.2% to 17,525.06, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 3,031.70.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.8% to 6,987.60. South Korea’s Kospi shed less than 0.1% to 2,495.66.
