US stocks tread water during opening hour of trade

US stocks struggled for a firm direction and witnessed a lackluster opening on Monday, amid geopolitical tensions and domestic political turmoil. 

The geopolitical threat continues to dent investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities and preventing the market from recovering after the recent bout of volatility. 

Adding to this, growing skepticism over the US President Donald Trump's ability to push through his promised pro-growth economic policies further held investors back from placing fresh aggressive bullish bets, which has eventually led to a subdued opening hour at the start of a new trading week. 

At the time of writing, all the three major indices - the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broader S&P 500 Index and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, were roughly around Friday's weekly closing level near 21655, 2426 and 6223, respectively.

With the markets struggling to register even a modest recovery, especially after the recent slide of over 2% during the last two-week, the technical picture now seems to suggest higher possibilities of a deeper correction in the near-term.