NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were mixed early Monday as rising energy prices sharpened inflation worries ahead of key earnings and economic reports later in the week.
Equity markets were poised for more volatility as oil prices surged to fresh multi-year highs amid worries over the sufficiency of supply to meet revived demand.
Analysts had already been boosting their inflation forecasts due to myriad supply chain and logistics problems that are boosting consumer prices.
A few minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 34,801.77.
The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent to 4,387.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.3 percent to 14,538.39.
This week's calendar includes an update on US consumer prices, as well as earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase and other leading banks.
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The earnings season is expected to feature "a lot of discussion about margin pressures" due to higher costs, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
"We suspect the market will tolerate such talk so long as it is accompanied with indications that demand is strong enough to push through price actions that help offset the impact on profit margins."
Among individual companies, Southwest Airlines dropped 3.5 percent after canceling more than 1,000 flights Sunday, citing weather and air traffic control issues.
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