US open: Stocks trade lower following PCE report
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 01 Oct 2021
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks were in the red early on Friday as investors digested a number of key data points shortly after the bell.
As of 1550 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.05% at 33,826.14, while the S&P 500 was 0.26% weaker at 4,296.14 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.63% softer at 14,358.26.
The Dow opened 17.78 points lower on Friday, continuing losses recorded in the previous session as a volatile month for stocks drew to an end.
Market participants were thumbing over a slew of data points early in the session, with the core personal consumption expenditures price index taking centre stage and revealing that Americans splashed out bit less over the summer months despite incomes continuing to grow as expected.
According to the Department of Commerce, personal consumption expenditures increased at a month-on-month pace of 0.2%, as expected, while so-called personal consumption expenditures jumped 0.8% against July (consensus: 0.7%). At the core level, which excludes food and energy, the deflator's rate of the advance was steady at 3.6% year-on-year.
Elsewhere on the macro front, activity in America's manufacturing sector picked up slightly last month despite a myriad of supply-side issues afflicting the sector, according to the Institute for Supply Management's services sector Purchasing Managers' Index, which picked up from a reading of 59.9 for August to 61.1 in September. Economists had pencilled-in a slight drop to 59.5.
A separate survey by IHS Markit revealed that its manufacturing PMI had dropped to a five-month low of 60.7 in September, down from 61.1 in August and slightly better than its flash estimate was 60.5.
Still on data, construction spending figures for August revealed spending was virtually unchanged month-on-month at $1.58bn, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose from 71.0 to 72.8 in the back end of September, ahead of expectations on the Street.
Also in focus was news that Congress was now poised to prevent a government shutdown, with both the Senate and the House passing a short-term appropriations bill that will allow the government to keep operating until 3 December. The bill is currently sitting on Joe Biden's desk awaiting his signature.
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.
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