LIVE MARKETS-US stocks muted amid Columbus Day doldrums

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US STOCKS MUTED AMID COLUMBUS DAY DOLDRUMS

Wall Street is mixed early Monday as investors regard the week ahead in the way a skier stands at the precipice of a black diamond slope; everything's peaceful now, on this quasi-holiday. But with third-quarter earnings about to kick into high gear and crucial inflation data on tap, things are about to get interesting.

The three major US stock indexes are mixed and muted, with the S&P 500 .SPX essentially flat, the Dow .DJI edging higher and the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC inching into the red.

The bond market is closed in observance of Columbus Day, with few catalysts to sway investor sentiment one way or the other.

That is, except for oil prices, which have been all the catalyst markets have needed in recent weeks as Iran war-related supply pressures have morphed into broader inflation and Fed hawkishness.

Front-month WTI and Brent are both up more than 2%, as ongoing attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthis overshadowed US President Donald Trump's announced diesel deal with Russia and a purported Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire.

On the sector level, energy .SPNY is benefiting from rising crude, while banks .SPXBK are also ahead of the game, held aloft, perhaps, by earnings optimism. At the red end of the scale, chips .SOX are having a bad day, dragging the broader tech .SPLRCT sector down with them. Gold and silver miners .XAU and airlines .SPCOMAIR are also clear underperformers.

Looking at the week ahead, things kick into gear.

On Tuesday, Wells Fargo WFC.N, Goldman Sachs GS.N, Citigroup C.N and JPMorgan Chase JPM.N fire the starter pistol for third-quarter reporting season, with Bank of America BAC.N and Morgan Stanley MS.N following suit on Wednesday.

With respect to economics, the Labor Department's CPI and PPI will provide the Federal Reserve some inflation data to chew on ahead of its monetary policy meeting later this month. Retail sales, existing home sales and industrial production are among other high-profile indicators on this week's crowded docket.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood shortly after 10 a.m. ET.

(Stephen Culp)

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