NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were mostly negative early Tuesday, opening a new month uncertainly after a bruising January dominated by worries over inflation and shifting monetary policy.

The early losses in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq threatened a two-day winning streak for stocks that offset some of last month's declines.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 35,168.89.

US stocks mixed ahead of jobs data, earnings deluge

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.1 percent to 4,509.21, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent to 14,151.57.

Stocks have been under pressure as the Federal Reserve has shifted policy and signaled a likely interest rate hike in March. Investors have also been monitoring ongoing tensions in Ukraine and the ebbs and flows of Covid-19.

Among individual companies, UPS rocketed 13.5 percent higher after lifting its dividend payment by 49 percent to $1.52 a share following a jump in 2021 earnings.

ExxonMobil posts $23bn in 2021 profits on higher oil prices

ExxonMobil rose 3.4 percent after the oil giant reported annual profits of $23 billion last year compared with a loss of $22.4 billion in 2020 when demand was dented by the Covid-19 lockdowns. High oil prices helped boost results again during the quarter, although increased costs cut into gains in some operations.