NEW YORK, Dec 11 — Wall Street stocks treaded water early Monday ahead of a trove of major economic data releases and central bank meetings.

This week’s jammed schedule includes the November reading for the consumer price index and retail sales, as well as the Federal Reserve’s last monetary policy decision of 2023.

"The market has done so well,” said Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial. "So it would be helpful for the market to rest, to consolidate, ease a bit before it gains a momentum with the so called ‘Santa Claus Rally’.”

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 36,248.61.

The broad-based S&P 500 edged down 0.1 per cent to 4,601.48, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was unchanged at 14,363.95.

Among individual companies, Macy’s surged more than 15 per cent after an investment consortium offered to buy the department store chain for US$5.8 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Occidental Petroleum climbed 0.8 per cent after announcing a deal buy rival American energy producer CrownRock, a private company, for US$12 billion. — AFP