US stocks ease lower after record run

New York - Wall Street opened mostly lower on Tuesday with traders catching their breath after a week-long stretch of records for the Dow, with earnings disappointments in Netflix and Philip Morris spurring selling.

After five straight record-topping finishes, five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up a bare 0.04% at 18 540.21.

But the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.2% 2 163.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gave up 0.1% to 5 051.53.