US open: Dow drops over 100 points as consumer confidence slides in February

US stocks fell on Friday after data showed an unexpected drop in producer prices and consumer confident.

Just after 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 125 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq shed nine and eight points respectively.

On Thursday, Wall Streets registered the biggest gain in over a month as worries about a June interest rate hike abated after data showed Americans spent less than expected in February.

Consumer sentiment in the US waned unexpectedly in March, as the preliminary reading on the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index for March came in at 91.2, down from 95.4 in February.

Analysts had been expecting a reading of 95.5.

Consumer's expectations saw the largest decline, with the corresponding sub-index dropping to 83.7 from 88 a month before.

“Fed officials still worried that the sharp decline in energy prices would trigger a more widespread debt-deflation spiral should be comforted by the rebound in one-year ahead inflation expectations to a six-month high of 3.0%,” said Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics’ chief US Economist.

Meanwhile, US producer prices fell 0.5% in February, marking the fourth straight month of decline as a sharp decline in retail trade margins dragged the index down.

In company news, Hibbett Sports gained over 2% after reporting better-than-expected results in its fourth quarter.

Clothing group Aeropostale tanked 13.2% after announcing it forecast a larger-than-expected loss in the first quarter, while sector peers Buckle Inc and Ann Inc respectively fell 0.43% and rose 7%.

Foreign exchange broker FXCM soared 23.2% after posting fourth quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations late on Thursday.

Nutrition group Herbalife gained almost 7% after a Wall Street Journal report that federal investigators were interviewing people connected to hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman in a possible stock-manipulation probe.

Oil prices declined, with Brent crude losing 0.93% to $56.55 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell 2.1% to $46.08 a barrel.

The dollar gained 0.65% and 0.41% against the pound and the euro respectively and was largely stable against the yen, while gold futures gained 0.55% to $1,158.20.