US stocks trade mixed as investors eye key US bond yields and await new economic data

• US stocks opened mixed Monday amid an inversion of a part of the yield curve, which is seen as a recession indicator.
• The 5-year Treasury yield edged higher than the 30-year rate, but the most watch part of the yield curve remained positive.

US stocks opened mixed on Monday as a part of the yield curve inverted, which could be an indicator of a recession.

The 5-year Treasury yield ticked above the 30-year yield. However, the 2-year and 10-year rates — the most watched yield spread — remained positive.

Investors continue to eye developments in Russia and Ukraine as well as an upcoming slate of economic reports later this week, including ADP's private payrolls data on Wednesday and the Labor Department's monthly jobs report on Friday.

Here's where US indexes stood as the market opened 9:30 a.m. on Monday:

• S&P 500: 4,535.21, down 0.17%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,751.14, down 0.32% (110.10 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 14,191.56, up 0.16%

A top energy market historian forecasted that the US will emerge as the world's largest natural-gas exporter this year, and that Russia will become more separated from the global economy the longer its war on Ukraine drags on. Meanwhile, Putin told Russia's central bank to switch to rubles for natural gas payments.

Russia just narrowly avoided a huge default earlier this month, but investors aren't sure the sanctioned nation will be able to stave it off completely. Its chances of defaulting on its bond payments are now around 55%, down from near 80% a few weeks prior.

Meanwhile, analyst reports from HSBC have quietly removed "war" references. The Chinese bank has softened the language in several recent publications, per the Financial Times.

Oil slipped, with West Texas Intermediate down 6.23% to $106.80 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 6.05% to $113.42 a barrel.

Gold dipped 0.875% to $1,937.80 per ounce. The 10-year yield was down 4 basis points to 2.45%.

Bitcoin rose 5.49% to $47,331.47.