NEW YORK: US stocks opened slightly down Tuesday after rallying for three days, in the wake of mixed European trading and news of tentative progress in regaining control of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.
"With the economic calendar fairly light today, the Street will likely take its cues from the handful of earnings reports on tap, and should continue to monitor the nuclear situation in Japan and the escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East," said Andrea Kramer of Schaeffer's Investment Research.
At 1400 GMT the Dow Jones Industrial Average of blue chip stocks was lower by 9.88 points (0.08 percent) at 12,026.65, after leaping 178 points on Monday.
The broader S&P 500 pared 2.05 (0.16 percent) to 1,296.33, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 4.91 points (0.18 percent) to 2,687.18.
Retail-pharmacy chain owner Walgreen saw its shares lose 7.5 percent on profit-taking after reporting a 10.5 percent increase in second quarter earnings from a year before.
Amazon lost 1.2 percent after it was sued by Apple (+0.4 percent) for allegedly violating the trademark of Apple's App Store.
AT&T was 0.5 percent lower as regulatory- related questions were being raised over its planned takeover of T-Mobile USA, a $39 billion deal that would make it the country's largest cellphone carrier.
Rival Verizon, the current market leader, meanwhile traded 0.03 percent higher.
Bond prices fell, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury rising to 3.35 percent against 3.32 percent late Monday. The 30 year note moved to 4.46 percent from 4.45 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
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