March 4 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow opened little changed on Thursday as investors were cautious ahead of remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell amid a recent rise in U.S. bond yields, while data showed a staggering recovery in the labor market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.9 points, or 0.06%, at the open to 31289.01. The S&P 500 fell 1.2 points, or 0.03%, at the open to 3818.53, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 43.8 points, or 0.34%, to 12953.986 at the opening bell. (Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)