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New York - Wall Street stocks were little changed early on Tuesday following better-than-expected earnings from retail giants Wal-Mart and Home Depot and US data showing somewhat higher inflation.
About 45 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 480.48, down 2.53 points (0.01%).
The broad-based S&P 500 was essentially flat at 2 053.20, up 0.01 of a point, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.27 (0.03%) to 4 985.89.
Earnings surged
Wal-Mart Stores rose 2.7% as it reported third-quarter earnings of $1.03 per share, five cents above expectations.
Fellow Dow member Home Depot gained 3.2% after reporting that third-quarter earnings surged 12.2% to $1.7bn.
The solid results from Walmart and Home Depot helped compensate for disappointing earnings last week from Macy's and some other retailers.
Data showed the US consumer price index rose 0.2% month on month in October, with key elements like health care and housing costs pushing higher in a potential sign of inflation picking up.
TJX, parent of the discount department stores TJ Maxx and Marshall's, gained 3.4% after reporting earnings of 86c per share, a penny above expectations behind a 5.2% gain in revenues to $7.8bn.
But Dick's Sporting Goods slumped 17.2% after projecting fourth-quarter earnings of $1.10-$1.25 per share, below the $1.43 expected by analysts.
Completes separation
Youth-oriented apparel retailer Urban Outfitters plummeted 13.7% after reporting sales of $825.3m, well below the $872m expected by analysts.
General Electric rose 0.8% as it announced that it completed an exchange offer of Synchrony Financial shares for GE shares, reducing GE's share count by about 6.6%. The move completes the separation of Synchrony, once GE's retail finance arm. Synchrony rose 2.2%.
