NEW YORK: US stocks diverged at the open of trade Monday after ending last week on a positive note, amid both hopes of deceleration in monetary tightening and jitters sparked by political changes in China.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, a proxy for Federal Reserve interest rates, ticked up slightly and the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.33 percent.

US Treasury bond yields have retreated from multi-year peaks after a news report suggesting that some Fed officials wanted to discuss slowing the pace of rate hikes.

Wall Street ends higher as hopes for less aggressive Fed grow

Markets have also been monitoring the political drama in Britain, which is set for its third prime minister in less than two months, with the new potential candidate widely seen as a source of greater stability.

But political moves in Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping handed key economic posts to loyalists who support his strict zero-Covid strategy, continued sending ripples through markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.71 percent in early trading on Monday but the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.42 percent.

All eyes are on business earnings this week, with major listed companies including Microsoft and Apple set to report their results, while investors also await the United States’ advance GDP report later this week.