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Tesla slips after its China-made EV sales drop in Nov

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Job openings rise to 7.744 mln in Oct, beating estimates

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South Korean firms fall after president declares martial

law

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Indexes: Dow down 0.4%, S&P 500 off 0.1%, Nasdaq up 0.1%

(Updates with mid-session trading)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were

subdued in volatile trading on Tuesday after the S&P 500 and the

Nasdaq notched record high levels in the previous session, with

focus on a crucial jobs report later this week and commentary

from Federal Reserve officials.

The hotly anticipated monthly payrolls figures on Friday, a

crucial metric in gauging the Fed's interest rate trajectory,

are on top of investors' radar.

A November reading of private payrolls is also due on

Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Labor Department report showed U.S. job

openings increased moderately in October while layoffs declined,

suggesting the labor market continued to slow in an orderly

fashion.

At 11:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 169.17 points, or 0.37%, to 44,615.46, the S&P 500

lost 6.98 points, or 0.11%, to 6,040.22 and the Nasdaq Composite

gained 22.13 points, or 0.12%, to 19,427.37, briefly

hitting an all-time high.

Seven of the 11 major S&P sub-sectors were trading

lower, with industrials' 0.9% fall leading losses.

On the docket for Tuesday, comments from Chicago Fed

President Austan Goolsbee and Fed Board Governor Adriana Kugler

would be parsed through.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Monday he is

inclined "at present" to support another interest rate cut later

this month, while New York Fed President John Williams could not

yet say what the central bank's next move will be.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit record closing highs in the

last session, as the tech rally spilled into December after U.S.

equities' stellar November performance.

"A lot of people are saying, look, don't fight the trend.

There's a lot of momentum and people are looking for reasons to

be optimistic," said Patrick Kaser, portfolio manager at

Brandywine Global.

"The flip side of that is at some point everybody's

expecting good things and evaluations are not supportive of

anything other than this good scenario, so there will come a

time when the good news starts to mean too much good news."

Former U.S. President Donald Trump recaptured the White

House in last month's election and his Republican Party swept

both houses of Congress, boosting stocks in November.

Analysts have cited Trump's potential plans for tax cuts and

deregulation as a positive for stocks, though tariffs could be a

negative on concerns of fresh inflationary pressures and a

global trade war.

U.S.-listed shares of South Korean companies lost ground

with iShares MSCI South Korea ETF down 3%, after

President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in the country.

Tesla slipped 1.5% after data showed the

automaker's sales of China-made electric vehicles fell 4.3%

year-on-year to 78,856 in November.

Zscaler ( ZS ) dropped 5.7% after analysts noted that the

cybersecurity firm's second-quarter revenue forecast failed to

impress.

U.S. Steel shed 7.9% after Trump reiterated his

opposition to Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) planned $15 billion the

purchase of the company.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.62-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.89-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and two new

lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 82 new highs and 68

new lows.