NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were little changed early Wednesday ahead of US consumer confidence data covering much of the critical holiday shopping season.
After rallying in Tuesday's session on reports of strong holiday sales, leading retailers were mixed early Wednesday ahead of the Conference Board confidence data for December.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down slightly at 24,740.70.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to 2,682.20, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also climbed 0.1 percent to 6,943.71.
Trading volumes are traditionally low in the week in between Christmas and New Year's, which includes a stretch of time associated with the "Santa Claus rally." But analysts have been unsure whether to expect a push higher this week given the strong gains US stocks already have attained this year.
Stock markets in Paris, London and Frankfurt were mixed after reopening following the Christmas and Boxing Day holidays.
Among those who were working this week, many were scrutinizing the just-enacted US tax reform.
Large companies including Royal Dutch Shell and Barclays plan one-time charges on earnings due to changes in the law on deferred tax assets, but still expect the reform to boost growth over the long term, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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