US open: Stocks in line for fifth consecutive day of losses after choppy start

US stocks fluctuated in early trading on Friday, as investors awaited a speech from Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen.

Just after 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.72 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced by 3.25 and 19.70 points, respectively.

Investors will closely monitor Yellen’s speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Conference on “the New Normal for Monetary Policy” at 19:45 GMT to find out whether the Fed chairwoman will shed any light on the timing of the next interest rate hike.

The US economy expanded by 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014, unchanged from the government’s prior estimate.

The reading was slightly below consensus expectations of an upwardly revised 2.4% reading and was half the pace of the 5% registered in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the final reading on the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey for March was 93, above analysts’ expectations for a reading of 92.5 but below February’s print of 95.4.

In company news, biotech firm Orexigen Therapeutics advanced 2.61% after receiving the green light from European regulators for its Mysimba diet drug.

Smartphone provider BlackBerry rose over 2% after reporting fourth quarter earnings of four cents per share against expectations of a four cent loss.

Footwear retailer Finish Line gained over 2.5% after reporting better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, while cruise company Carnival Corp jumped almost 7% after its first quarter earnings beat expectations

Going the other way, videogame retailer GameStop Corp fell as 1.4% early in the session after its quarterly results and outlook fell short of Wall Street’s expectations late on Thursday.

Restoration Hardware Holdings reversed pre-market losses and edged forward 0.6% after reporting a 60% increase year-on-year in fourth quarter earnings late on Thursday.

After closing out a five-day winning streak on Thursday, oil prices fell on Friday, with West Texas Intermediate losing 0.94% to $50.95 a barrel, while Brent crude dropped 1.28% to $58.44 a barrel.

“The glut in oil supplies at the moment has capped any significant risk premium being added to prices,” said Oanda’s senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

“Oil has been in contango for quite a while now which has led to a record amount of offshore storage, to the point that availability is fast running out.”

The dollar fell 0.27% against the pound and 0.13% against the yen but gained 0.16% against the euro, while gold futures slid 0.76% to $1,195.70.