US: Wall St opens lower as retail sales data offsets earnings cheer

WALL Street’s main indexes opened lower on Friday (Apr 14) as weak retail sales data for March suggested the economy was losing steam, while upbeat earnings from a trio of big US banks helped assuage fears of further stress in the sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 47.98 points, or 0.14 per cent, at the open to 33,981.71.

The S&P 500 opened lower by 6.11 points, or 0.15 per cent, at 4,140.11, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 48.36 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 12,117.91 at the opening bell. REUTERS