NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stock opened flat to slightly lower Monday as investors awaited a report on home sales and considered the morning's scarce corporate news.

At 9:35 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average (down 37.89 to 9310.98, Charts), Nasdaq composite (down 4.16 to 1761.16, Charts), and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (down 2.04 to 991.02, Charts) all were within a few points of the unchanged line, with the Dow showing the biggest decline of the three.

The government plans to release its monthly report on existing home sales at 10 a.m. ET. Economists expect sales came in at an annual rate of 5.9 million annual rate in July, up from 5.83 million in June, according to a survey of economists by Briefing.com.

Intel (INCT: Research, Estimates) shares rose 1 percent in early trading. The top chipmaker soared Friday after raising its forecast for sales and gross margins, but CEO Craig Barrett cautioned Monday that it's too early to call a turnaround in the chip industry. Several brokerages increased their price targets on the company Monday.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart (WMT: up $0.30 to $58.70, Research, Estimates) inched up after raising its August target for sales at stores open at least a year to 4 percent to 6 percent from three percent to five percent.

European markets mostly fell in the afternoon there. London markets were closed for a holiday. Stocks ended mixed in Asia.

Treasury bond prices edged higher, with the yield on the 10-year note at 4.44 percent, up from 4.47 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. The dollar edged lower against the yen and the euro.

COMEX gold fell $1.60 to $362.70 an ounce Monday.