(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 29 apr - US shares opened mainly lower amid rising oil prices as investors steeled for big tech earnings and Jerome Powell's last interest-rate decision as Federal Reserve chair.

The Fed is widely expected to stay pat on interest rates in light of concerns over possible inflationary pressure from the US-Iran conflict. Attention will instead be focused on whether Powell will give up his seat on the Fed's board as his mandate ends and new chair-elect Kevin Warsh prepares to take the helm.

Four members of the so-called 'Magnificent Seven' stocks are scheduled to unveil their latest earnings after the closing bell with Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft all on the block. Investors will be watching the scale of investments in AI projects to see if the heavy layouts show through in terms of revenue growth.

Oil prices meantime continued to rise after a report US president Donald Trump ha told aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran. Brent crude was up 4.6% at more than 116 dollars per barrel.

Just after the opening bell the Dow Jones was up 14.54 points, or 0.03%, at 49,156.47 points, the S&P 500 was down 3.47 points, or 0.05%, at 7,135.33, while the Nasdaq was down.

70.38 points, or 0.29%, at 24,593.42.

(RADIOCOR) 29-04-26 15:39:05 (0548) 5 NNNN