US stocks take a breather after recent record run

Major US equity indices took a pause from their recent record-breaking run and opened with modest losses on the first trading day of a new week.

After last week's strong run-up, initial signs of some profit-taking seems to be the only factor leading to a muted opening as traders digested recent comments from various Fed officials, suggesting that the central bank remains on track to raise interest rates in 2018.

Investors also seemed to wait for the fourth quarter earnings season, which kicks off later this week, in order to see how much companies would benefit from the recent tax cuts. 

Despite today's lackluster trading action, a positive outlook for stocks, which had been a key theme through 2017, extended into early 2018 and what generally happens is that the first week sets the trend for the remainder of the year.

At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down around 30-points to 25,265, while the broader S&P 500 Index slipped nearly 3-points to 2,740. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index treaded water near Friday's closing level and was last seen quoting around 7,135.