The S&P 500 and the Dow have edged up, as investors awaited quarterly results from industry heavyweights through the week, while Apple and Tesla boosted the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Second-quarter earnings are gathering momentum, with Tesla due to report on Wednesday, while Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Netflix are also lined up through the rest of the week.
Of the 30 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings as of Friday, 80 per cent beat analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
Supporting Nasdaq, Apple climbed 1.1 per cent after Morgan Stanley raised its target price on the iPhone maker.
Tesla gained 3.2 per cent after the company said on Sunday it had built its first Cybertruck, after two years of delays.
Rival Ford Motor shed 4.2 per cent after the car maker slashed the prices of its popular electric F-150 Lightning trucks, with the base variant now costing about 17 per cent less.
In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 20.57 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 34,529.60, the S&P 500 was up 2.83 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 4,508.25, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 33.78 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 14,147.48.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors declined in early trading, led by utilities, which shed 0.6 per cent.
The three major US indexes ended last week more than 2.0 per cent higher after consumer prices and producer prices data provided further evidence that the economy had entered a disinflation phase, stoking hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon end its monetary policy tightening.
On Friday, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup showed big US banks got a profit boost from higher rates and painted a picture of a resilient economy, with sparks of hope in some businesses like deal-making that have been in the dumps of late.
The strong opening rally in lenders, however, quickly fizzled out with most financials ending Friday’s session lower as investors feared things were as good as they would get for a while.
“The market wants more information from earnings to see whether or not the strength in the last couple of months is justified,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.
Activision Blizzard rose 3.0 per cent after Microsoft said it has signed an agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following its acquisition.
Also helping the stock, a US appeals court on Friday rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s request to pause Microsoft’s $US69 billion ($A101 billion) purchase.
Lacklustre Chinese economic data weighed on investors’ minds on Monday as the world’s second largest economy grew at a frail pace in the second quarter.
During the week, investors also await retail sales and new homes figures for June.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.20-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 20 new 52-week highs and four new lows while the Nasdaq recorded 50 new highs and 33 new lows.