US stocks mixed during opening hour, focus remains on earnings report

Major US equity indices witnessed a mildly weaker opening on the first trading day of the week as investors braced for an important and busy week of earnings and the FOMC decision on Wednesday.

This week's big earnings kicks-off with Google parent Alphabet, due to report after market close on Monday, followed by Amazon and Facebook later this week. With major global central banks indicating a shift to less accommodative stance, earnings will continue to grab investors' attention in order to justify the current stretched valuations and for any additional up-move for the indices, already sitting at record highs. 

The market will also keep an eye on political developments amid growing doubts over the US President Donald Trump's ability to deliver on his promised tax reforms and infrastructure spending, especially after he failed to push through the healthcare bill, aimed to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Meanwhile, the latest downgrade of the US economic growth forecast for 2017 and 2018 by the IMF also did little to boost appetite for riskier assets - like equities, with investors preferring to stay on the sidelines ahead of the two-day FOMC meeting starting on Tuesday.

During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost around 30-points to 21,550, while the broader S&P 500 Index was down 3-points to 2,469. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index continues to outperform the broader markets and added 3-points to 6,391.