US stocks tread water during opening hour of trade

   •  Markets lose momentum on weaker earnings
   •  Durable goods orders surpass expectations
   •  Fed Chair speculations weigh

Major US equity indices witnessed a rather subdued opening on Wednesday as investors digested some weaker earnings results. 

A sell-off in the shares of Chipotle, down nearly 15% after the company posted weaker-than-expected earnings late Tuesday, and AMD, down around 10% on concerns over the company's outlook, were seen weighing on the broader indices. 

During the opening hour of trade, all the three major indices - the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, held steady near yesterday's closing level, around 23,445, 2,565 and 6,594 respectively. 

On the economic data front, durable-goods orders surpassed even the most optimistic estimates and rose 2.2% in September. Excluding transportation items, orders increased 0.7% m-o-m but failed to lift investors’ sentiment. 

Meanwhile, speculations that the next Fed Chair could be more hawkish, reinforced by the ongoing upsurge in the US Treasury bond yields, was also seen keeping a check on investors’ appetite for riskier assets - like equities.