NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks edged lower early Monday as investors monitor progress on a large infrastructure package nearing approval in Washington and the latest state of play on Covid-19.

The Dow and S&P 500 ended last week at records following strong jobs data, but both indices were marginally negative after the opening bell.

Key reports this week include an inflation read from the consumer price index on Wednesday, as well as earnings from Disney on Thursday.

Also on tap: the Senate is expected to approve a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill backed by President Joe Biden after it cleared a key procedural vote on Sunday.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3 percent at 35,099.86.

The broad-based S&P 500 also dropped 0.3 percent to 4,425.36, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.2 percent to 14,802.77.

Analysts are keeping an eye on the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, which has left some hospitals with no remaining bed capacity in parts of Texas and some other states.

Experts rue the lack of progress on vaccinations in these regions.

"We should not really have ever got to the place we are," Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "In that regard, yes, we are failing."