US open: Stocks start session lower on final day of June trading

Wall Street stocks opened lower on Friday as an otherwise solid month for equities reached its final day of trading.

As of 1545 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.23% at 35,002.51, while the S&P 500 was 0.38% weaker at 4,402.45 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.54% softer at 14,697.80.

The Dow opened 82.02 points lower on Friday, cutting into gains recorded in the previous session despite weaker-than-expected quarterly GDP figures.

While no major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday, quarterly results were still on focus at the open after some weaker-than-expected results in the tech space overnight.

Amazon shares were lower in early trading after posting first-quarter revenues that fell short of expectations and issuing weaker full-year guidance, while Pinterest shares slumped after revealing it had lost monthly users in the three months ended 30 June.

Brokerage firm Robinhood was also in focus after the stock closed its maiden session more than 8% lower yesterday but ticked up some modest gains at the open.

On the macro front, Americans continued splashing out last month as income growth surprised to the upside. According to the Department of Commerce, personal incomes edged up by 0.1% month-on-month, ahead of consensus estimates for a 0.6% decline, while the core PCE index rose from 3.4% in May to 3.5% in June.

Elsewhere, the Chicago PMI rose to 73.4 in July, up from 66.1 a month earlier, indicating the region's economy was continuing to grow at a rapid pace as the nation begins to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lastly, this month's University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to a final reading of 81.2, down from June's final level of 85.5 but above a preliminary reading of 80.8.