US stocks slip from record highs as investors await new economic data

• US stocks slipped from record highs Tuesday as investors await new economic data.
• Major indexes are still heading for their seventh consecutive month of gains.
• Consumer confidence data is due out at 10 a.m. ET Tuesday.

US stocks slipped from record highs Tuesday, the last trading day of August, as investors await new economic data.

Consumer confidence data is due out at 10 a.m. ET Tuesday, which may offer some understanding of how the surge in the Delta variant has affected spending habits in the US.

Labor market data, meanwhile, is due out Friday. Deutsche Bank's US economists expect the pace of hiring to slow after a strong July report.

The benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq hit record highs in the previous session and are heading for their seventh consecutive month of gains. The S&P 500 has reached 53 new all-time highs thus far - on track to beat its 1964 and 1995 records.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,524.61, down 0.09%
• Dow Jones industrial average: 35,345.48, down 0.15% (54.36 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 15,236.58, down 0.2%

US stocks have responded with optimism since Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell last week signaled that tapering asset purchases and easing bond-buying could happen this year, but interest rates would remain low until 2023.

Adding to the optimism, Deutsche analysts pointed to data from Johns Hopkins University showing slowing global growth rate in COVID-19 cases from 9.4% to just 0.01% over the past five weeks. The US has seen its slowest growth in cases since June.

"We believe the 'everything rally' is intact and we expect markets to see strong gains over the next four weeks," Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, said in a Tuesday note.

The 10-Year US Treasury yield edged up to 1.29%, from 1.28% in the previous session. Yields move inversely to prices.

West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 1.03%, to $68.50. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, slid 0.95%, to $72.71 per barrel.

Gold fell 0.38% to $1,811.65 per ounce.