Jittery at open

[Francisco Monjardino]

Jittery at open

Stock market under some early pressure ahead of release of April existing home sales, Fed minutes.

May 24, 2005: 9:44 AM EDT


NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks inched lower early Tuesday, after a nearly six-session run, as investors geared up for the release of the April existing home sales report and the minutes from the last Fed meeting.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 51.65 to 10,523.56, Charts), the Nasdaq composite (down 5.05 to 2,051.60, Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 1.81 to 1,192.05, Charts) index all declined modestly in the early going.

The Dow and S&P 500 index have gained in five of the last six sessions, while the Nasdaq has made it six in a row. The broad advance has been sparked by relief about falling oil prices, but also a sense that the economy is on track, inflation is not out of control and the Federal Reserve doesn't have to intensify its rate-hiking campaign.

Investors will be looking for a confirmation about the Fed in the minutes from the May FOMC meeting, due to be released around 2:00 p.m. ET.

Creating some jitters ahead of that was a report from a prominent think tank which said that the Fed will keep raising rates into 2006.

Ahead of that, the National Association of Realtors will release its existing home sales report for April. Sales are expected to have risen to an annual rate of 6.90 million from 6.89 million in March, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

U.S. light crude for July delivery slipped a penny to $49.15 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.02 percent from 4.05 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold rose $2.00 to $418.90 an ounce, gaining with other dollar-traded commodities.

In global trade, Asian-Pacific markets ended higher with the exception of the Japanese Nikkei, and European markets were mixed at midday.