US benchmark equity indexes were struggling for direction ahead of Tuesday's close as markets analyzed the official job openings report for October. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.2% at 19,450.4, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 44,718.4. The S&P 500 remained virtually unchanged at 6,048.2.
Among sectors, communication services led the gainers, while financials and industrials experienced the largest declines. US job openings rose to 7.74 million as of the last day of October, up from September's 7.37 million report, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' job openings and labor turnover survey.
The consensus forecast was for a 7.52 million level in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Overall, the data suggest "a still strong, albeit cooling," labor market, as noted by Oxford Economics. The US two-year yield decreased by 2.5 basis points to 4.17%, whereas the 10-year rate increased by 3.8 basis points to 4.23%. Salesforce (CRM), Marvell Technology (MRVL), and Okta (OKTA) are among the companies set to report their latest quarterly financial results after the closing bell. West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed by 2.7% to $69.98 a barrel..