S&P 500 Index opens in the negative territory below 4,400
- Wall Street's main indexes trade in the red on Friday.
- Defensive sectors trade in the positive territory after the opening bell.
- S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index is down nearly 3%.
Major equity indexes in the US opened lower on the last trading day of the week. The S&P 500 Index, which notched a new all-time high of 4,429, is currently down 0.5% at 4,396, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is losing 0.1% at 35,052 and the Nasdaq Composite is falling nearly 1% at 14,636.
Earlier in the day, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that Personal Spending increased by 1% in June while Personal Income rose by only 0.1%. Moreover, the Core PCE inflation edged higher to 3.5% on a yearly basis in June, compared to analysts' estimate of 3.7%.
Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the defensive Real Estate and Utilities indexes trade in the positive territory after the opening bell. On the other hand, the COnsumer Discretionary Index is down 2.8% as the biggest percentage decline in early trade.