Wall Street stocks dipped early Monday as markets digested a rise in oil prices and looked ahead to key US inflation data.
Crude prices rose about 1.5 percent after Iran said it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States complied with a list of demands, including paying compensation for war damage.
The statement came on the heels of Friday’s weak employment report that showed the United States unexpectedly lost thousands of jobs in July.
About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 53,937.14.
The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent to 7,753.90, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.2 percent to 26,638.35.
US stocks rose Friday following the release of poor jobs data as markets downgraded the odds of imminent Federal Reserve interest rate increases.
David Miller of Catalyst Funds said the latest data suggests dynamics that could “potentially be more difficult for financial markets than a traditional recession followed quickly by aggressive Fed easing,” he wrote in a note.
“The risk may not be a deep recession. It may be an economy that is not strong enough to generate jobs but not weak enough to eliminate inflation.”
Markets will get fresh updates this week on consumer and wholesale inflation, as well as a retail sales report for July.