US stocks pulled back from recent highs on Monday as investors digested the news that Boeing's chief executive is stepping down following a series of safety incidents and manufacturing issues.

Dave Calhoun will leave his position running the US aviation giant at the end of the year, the company said in a statement.

His departure follows a string of recent problems, including a near-catastrophic incident in January when a fuselage panel on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines jet blew off mid-flight.

Shortly after markets opened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading down 0.2 percent at 39,402.78, while the S&P 500 was down by the same amount at 5,222.36.

The tech-rich Nasdaq composite fell by 0.4 percent to 16,359.08.

The lower open reflects "some normal consolidation after another winning week for the major indices," Briefing.com's Patrick O'Hare wrote in a blog post Monday morning.

News of Calhoun's departure pushed Boeing's share price 1.4 percent higher in early trading.

The news over the weekend that China plans to eliminate US microchips for government and services is "putting a little pressure," on the price of US chipmakers, Peter Cardillo from Spartan Capital told AFP.

Among the big US chipmakers, Intel's share price tumbled more than 3.5 percent in early trading, while Nvidia rose 0.2 percent.