Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened mixed on Monday, as ongoing concerns over violence in Iraq continued to weigh on market sentiment, despite the release of upbeat U.S. consumer sentiment data.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow 30 eased 0.09%, the S&P 500 added 0.11%, while the NASDAQ Composite edged 0.18% higher.
Concerns over the ongoing Sunni insurgency in Iraq continued to weigh on market sentiment, amid fears over the impact of reduced oil supply from one of the world’s largest producers on global growth.
Earlier Monday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index increased to 19.28 this month from a reading of 19.01 in May. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 15.0.
The report indicated that labor market conditions continued to improve, with indexes pointing to a modest increase in employment levels and hours worked.
OpenTable (NASDAQ:OPEN) slipped 0.22% after skyrocketing over 48% on Friday, when Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN) said it would acquire the online restaurant reservation service for $2.6 billion.
In more M&A news, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) saw shares surge 4.23% after the maker of medical devices agreed to buy Covidien (NYSE:COV), up 26.76%, for $42.9 billion in cash and stock.
Elsewhere, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) rose 0.29% amid reports the coffee chain is offering a program that would allow its workers to earn an online college degree at Arizona State University at a steeply discounted rate.
The company added that it plans to phase out its existing tuition reimbursement program, which gave workers up to $1,000 a year for education at certain schools.
On the downside, Citigroup (NYSE:C) retreated 0.50% after Bloomberg reported last week that the Justice Department asked the lender for more than $10 billion to settle an investigation into its sale of mortgage-backed bonds ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 declined 0.40%, France’s CAC 40 slid 0.32%, Germany's DAX edged down 0.09%, while Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.21%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.08%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.09%.