US stocks struggle to hold opening gains, Nasdaq outperform

With investors returning after the Independence Day holiday, US stocks opened with modest gains despite escalating geopolitical tensions following N. Korea's successful test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), however, struggled to hold opening gains and turned negative and was being weighed down by weakness in energy stocks led by a sharp retracement in crude oil prices after Russia ruled out any proposals to deepen production cuts. 

At the time of writing, DJIA was down over 20-points to 21457, while a recovery in tech stocks helped the broader S&P 500 Index to tread water near Monday's closing level of 2,429. Tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed around 15-points to 6,124.

Investors' focus on Wednesday would remain on the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June 13-14 meeting, where fresh insight over the central bank's intention to shrink its balance sheet and raise interest rates again would drive sentiment ahead of Friday's monthly jobs report (NFP).