Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened mixed on Monday, as markets were jittery ahead of U.S. economic reports, while speculation the Federal Reserve could leave interest rates on hold for longer still lent support.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow 30 edged down 0.22%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.03%, while the NASDAQ Composite added 0.10%.
Global equity markets remained supported after official data last week showed that the U.S. economy contracted at an annual rate of 2.9% in the first three months of the year, fuelling expectations that the Fed will not raise interest rates in the near future.
Dollar General (NYSE:DG) was down 0.12% after plummeting over 7% on Friday when the discount retailer maintained its lowered full-year profit outlook given in June and said its CEO would retire at the end of May 2015.
In similar news, chemicals supplier Dupont Fabros Technology (NYSE:DFT), up 0.26%, reduced its operating profit outlook for the second quarter and full year.
American Apparel (NYSE:APP) saw shares dive 14.18% after the clothing retailer turned back a request by ousted Chief Executive Dov Charney for an investor meeting.
Elsewhere, GoPro soared 8.92% after skyrocketing over 14% on Friday for the company's second day on the market.
Meanwhile, AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) dropped 0.95% as executives were expected in London for meetings with U.K. drugmaker Shire (LONDON:SHP) shareholders ahead of a potential renewed takeover bid.
In the tech sector, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) added 0.17% after the company began last week removing search results in Europe to comply with new rules on the "right to be forgotten".
The move came after Europe's highest court rules last month that individuals had the right to request the removal of results linking to personal information under certain conditions.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mostly lower. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 eased 0.01%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.22%, Germany's DAX rose 0.24%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.19%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged down 0.13%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.44%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce data on manufacturing activity in the Chicago region and a report on pending home sales.