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US open: Stocks open lower in week's final session

By Iain Gilbert

Date: Monday 18 Oct 2021

US open: Stocks open lower in week's final session

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks were trading lower early on Friday as another week in what has been a volatile month for stocks gets set to draw to a close.
As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.30% at 34,647.71, while the S&P 500 was 0.52% softer at 4,450.57 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.57% weaker at 15,095.98.

The Dow opened 103.61 points lower on Friday, extending losses recorded in the previous session following the release of some key retail sales data and a bigger-than-expected initial jobless claims print.

September's losses looked set to carry on after the open on Friday, although major indices were still on track for some modest weekly gains, as market participants continue to air on the side of caution as a result of a resurgent coronavirus on the back of the Delta variant and a key two-day Federal Reserve meeting next Wednesday.

Much of this month's volatility has been a result of today's so-called "quadruple witching", which marks the expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single-stock futures.

On the macro front, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index revealed that consumer sentiment edged up to 71 in September, up from a decade-low of 70.3 in August but below market forecasts of 72, according to preliminary estimates.

In the corporate space, Invesco shares were in the green after the Wall Street Journal revealed that it was in discussions to merge with State Street's asset management unit.

No major earnings were slated for release on Friday.

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