NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks opened mostly lower early Monday as markets monitored key talks in Washington to keep the government open and avoid a debt default and digested better-than-expected economic data.

Facing Republican opposition, congressional Democrats are struggling to navigate a path for President Biden's ambitious agenda for infrastructure and social spending.

Their most immediate concern will be to avoid a government shutdown. Lawmakers have until September 30 to pass a funding bill, even a temporary one, to keep the government operating.

In economic news, a surge in civilian aircraft purchases sparked a surprise jump in sales of big-ticket manufactured US goods in August, according to government data.

This week's calendar also includes reports on consumer confidence and personal income and spending.

Wall Street rebounds from recent losses; Fed in focus

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.6 percent to 34,990.13.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent to 4,441.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.0 percent to 14,894.72.

Among individual companies, MGM Resorts International rose 1.8 percent after reaching agreement to acquire "The Cosmopolitan" resort in Las Vegas from Blackstone. Blackstone fell 2.2 percent.

Facebook dropped 1.2 percent as it announced it is suspending development of a version of its Instagram photo-sharing app for children aged under 13, after widespread criticism of the plan.