Stocks Edge Lower at the Open as Traders Eye 10 a.m. Data; Oil Slips, Gold Softens

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower Tuesday as investors positioned for a pair of sentiment readings due at 10 a.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 10 points, or 0.02%, to 46,306.0. The S&P 500 eased 7.95 points (0.12%) to 6,653.26, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 33.82 points (0.15%) to 22,557.3.

Energy and metals were a drag early: November crude oil traded down 1.40% to $62.56, while December gold ticked 0.29% lower to $3,844.20.

The opening softness comes ahead of two closely watched releases that hit at the top of the hour. The Labor Department is slated to publish August Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) figures at 10:00 a.m. ET, while The Conference Board will release its U.S. Consumer Confidence Index at the same time.

Macro commentary continues to frame the rate debate. Torsten Slok, Chief Economist at Apollo Global Management, wrote Tuesday that “the bottom line is that the economy continues to do better than the consensus expects, and the labor market has likely weakened because of lower immigration and perhaps also AI implementation.” In his view, “the FOMC should really be talking about rate hikes rather than rate cuts.” The remarks underscore why today’s sentiment data may hold outsized sway over bond yields and equity leadership as the session unfolds.

In tech, investors were also digesting fresh financing math around generative AI. AInvest highlighted reports that OpenAI generated $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025 but burned $2.5 billion in cash amid $6.7 billion in R&D spending, a reminder of the capital intensity underpinning the AI build-out that has buoyed chipmakers this year.

With indexes only modestly lower at the start, attention now turns to whether the 10 a.m. releases reinforce a steady-growth, sticky-inflation narrative—or surprise enough to shift expectations into the Fed’s next leg.