US shares headed south at the open, after big gains yesterday, as traders digested a batch of earnings reports and looked to the key jobs creation number later in the week.
The benchmark Dow Jones eased 8 points to 17,820, while the broader based S&P500 shed five to 2,099.
The tech heavy Nasdaq lost 15 to 5,112.
Michael Hewson, a market analyst at CMC Markets, said: "Later this week, we get the most important US employment report, since the last one.
"Yes this is what life has come to, as the continued prevarication of the US Federal Reserve continues to sow uncertainty as to when they intend to pull the trigger on an interest rate rise."
He points out that "for most of this year the US central bank has been at pains to assure the market that rates will begin to rise this year, with June touted as the first potential trigger point".
But that of course is well in the rear view mirror now and the analyst said the divergence between the most recent economic data and the Fed’s view on the US economy only serves to deepen the uncertainty investors have about how the US central bank is seeing the economy.
On the corporate front, among the notable laggards was Sprint (NYSE:S), which tumbled over 6% as the fourth-largest US wireless carrier reported a wider-than-anticipated loss in its fiscal second quarter, and an unexpected drop in sales.
Online retail group Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) eased 0.32% to US$626.28 as it said it will open its first-ever brick-and-mortar retail store in Seattle.
This full-size, traditional store, named Amazon Books, is a physical extension of Amazon.com with books being selected based on customer ratings and pre-orders on Amazon.com.
The prices will be the same as those offered on the website, Amazon said.
Elsewhere, TransCanada (TSE:TRP), the country's second-biggest pipeline operator, shed 0.14% as it reported lower third-quarter profit as lower electricity prices in Alberta and disruptions at its Bruce nuclear plant crimped revenues in its energy division.