US open: Major indices on track for winning week despite early losses

dl wall street wall st new york city new york stock exchange nyse dow jones nasdaq street sign nyc united states usa america pb — Sharecast / Alessandro D Andrea via Pixabay

US stocks were mostly in the red early on Friday, putting S&P 500 at risk of snapping its six-session winning streak.

As of 1545 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.16% at 40,498.55, while the S&P 500 lost 0.06% to 5,539.81 and the Nasdaq Composite was flat at 17,595.38.

The Dow opened 64.51 points lower on Friday, taking a modest bite out of gains recorded in the previous session as both July's consumer price index and retail sales data lifted sentiment amid renewed optimism that an economic soft landing may still be on the cards.

In terms of Friday's macro headlines, US building permits fell by 4% in July to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 1.39m, according to the Census Bureau, the lowest level seen in four years and below market expectations of 1.43m, while US housing starts fell by 6.8% to 1.23m in July, the steepest decline seen since March, in sharp contrast to, and completely erasing, June's 1.1% increase.

Elsewhere, Americans' confidence in the economy and their finances was little changed in August, the results of a closely followed survey revealed. Preliminary results for the month of August revealed a small improvement in the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index from a July level of 66.4 to 67.8, ahead of consensus estimates of 66.9.

In the corporate space, H&R Block traded higher in after the tax services outfit announced a 17% dividend increase and a $1.5bn stock buyback, while Autodesk traded lower on the back of a Bloomberg report that revealed executives had ignored risks related to sales strategies.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $48.53 7.12%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $73.18 6.58%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $82.50 5.07%
Boeing Co. (BA) $176.41 4.69%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $262.49 2.93%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $88.79 2.89%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.69 2.68%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $345.64 2.38%
American Express Co. (AXP) $249.50 2.35%
Visa Inc. (V) $266.76 2.17%