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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 0.15%, S&P 500 off 0.03%, Nasdaq up

0.12%

(Updates at market open)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal

Dec 3 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes were subdued in choppy trading on

Tuesday after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record high

levels in the last session, with focus on a crucial jobs report

later this week along with more data 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 rose to 7.744 million in October, compared with

estimates of 7.475 million, as per economists polled by Reuters.

At 10:08 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 69.27 points, or 0.15%, to 44,712.73, the S&P 500

lost 2.00 points, or 0.03%, to 6,044.99 and the Nasdaq Composite

gained 23.01 points, or 0.12%, to 19,427.32.

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.

"We're hearing from different Fed officials, some saying

we should wait and pause and others saying a quarter point is

certainly doable," said Paul Nolte, senior wealth adviser and

market strategist for Murphy & Sylvest.

"(The Fed's decision) is still up in the air and the

data over the next 10 days or so will make that decision a

little bit easier for the Fed."

On the docket for Tuesday, comments from Chicago Fed

President Austan Goolsbee and Fed Board Governor Adriana Kugler

would be parsed through.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 scored to record

closing highs in the last session, as the tech rally spilled

into December after U.S. equities' stellar November performance.

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.

Among individual movers, Tesla slipped 1.1% after

data showed the automaker's sales of China-made electric

vehicles fell 4.3% year-on-year to 78,856 in November, pulling

the consumer discretionary sector down 0.2%.

Zscaler ( ZS ) dropped 5.3% after analysts noted that the

cybersecurity firm's second-quarter revenue forecast failed to

impress.

U.S. Steel shed 8.3% after Trump reiterated his

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

purchase of the company.

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

with iShares MSCI South Korea ETF down 5.7%, after

President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in the country.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.23-to-1

ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.5-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 16 new 52-week highs and two new

lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 64 new highs and 50

new lows.