US benchmark equity indexes were struggling for direction ahead of Tuesday's close as markets analyzed the official job openings report for October.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.2% at 19,450.4, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 44,718.4. The S&P 500 was little changed at 6,048.2. Among sectors, communication services paced the gainers, while financials and industrials saw the biggest drops.

US job openings rose to 7.74 million as of the last day of October from September's 7.37 million print, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' job openings and labor turnover survey. The consensus was for a 7.52 million level in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

On balance, the data indicate "a still strong, albeit cooling," labor market, Oxford Economics said.

The US two-year yield fell 2.5 basis points to 4.17%, while the 10-year rate rose 3.8 basis points to 4.23%.

Salesforce (CRM), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Okta (OKTA) are among the companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly financial results after the closing bell.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.7% to $69.98 a barrel.