Investing.com – Wall Street saw choppy trade on Monday, wavering around the flatline, as investors opted to wait for fiscal policy details from U.S. President Donald Trump the following day.
At 11:42AM ET (16:42GMT), the Dow Jones dropped 12 points, or 0.06%, the S&P 500 slipped 1 point, or 0.05%, while the Nasdaq Composite edged down 3 points, or 0.04%.
If the Dow closes higher on Monday, that will make 12 consecutive sessions ending in the green at closing all-time highs and tying its record made in 1987.
Still, market players were cautious as they looked ahead to Trump's speech to Congress on Tuesday, where he is expected to provide clues on his plans for policy priorities and goals, especially on taxes, trade and public investment.
A White House budget official said Trump will seek a $54 billion increase in spending for the Pentagon while slashing the same amount from non-defense spending, including a large reduction in foreign aid.
On the economic front, durable goods orders gave a mixed reading with a 1.8% increase in January beating forecasts, but an unexpected decline in core orders dampening optimism.
Similarly, pending home sales for the same month unexpectedly fell, although the annual increase still suggested a healthy housing market.
Dallas Federal Reserve president Robert Kaplan, a voter this year, said he was confident that U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth would top 2% in 2017, though he suggested that there was still slack in the labor market.
In company news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) tumbled more than 4% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the firm to sell based on concerns over its Model 3 launch and capital raise.
Warren Buffet said his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) had bought around 120 million shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in 2017 and insisted that the U.S. stocks were not in bubble territory.
Meanwhile, oil prices traded higher on Monday, rising back toward an eight-week high on increasing confidence that OPEC’s supply curbs will outweigh a gain in U.S. stockpiles.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.41% to $54.21 by 11:43AM ET (16:43GMT), while Brent oil traded up 0.55% to $56.62.