(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Monday as the market awaited homebuilder sentiment data that could feed into the Federal Reserve's assessment on how soon to raise rates.
The National Association of Homebuilders' monthly confidence index, due at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), is expected to show a slight rise.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 1.97 points, or 0.01 percent, to 18,270.59, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 1.9 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,120.83 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 7.77 points, or 0.15 percent, to 5,040.52.
(Reporting by Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
