Wall Street stocks were mixed early Wednesday following the prior session's rout as another drop by artificial intelligence star Nvidia weighed on the Nasdaq.

The chipmaker was down about three percent following a Bloomberg report that it has been subpoenaed by US antitrust regulators as part of a probe into its practices.

Entering September, a historically weak period for stocks, some investors decided to "lock in" gains from earlier in 2024, "because we don't necessarily know how the year is going to end," said LPL Financial's Quincy Krosby.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 41,015.41.

The broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 5,528.67, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent to 17,075.30.

Data showed that the US trade deficit expand to $78.8 billion in June from a revised $73.0 billion in June, the largest since mid-2022.

Later Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is slated to release its "beige book" chronicling economic conditions around the United States.