- The major Wall Street indices opened moderately higher on Friday.
- Upbeat US retail sales data appears to be boosting sentiment.
- Risk-sensitive tech stocks post strong gains after the opening bell.
After closing the previous two days in negative territory, the main US stock indices They opened modestly higher on Friday. At time of writing, the S&P 500 was up 0.25% on the day to 4,370, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.15% to 35,040 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.25% to 14,833.
Hours earlier, the US Census Bureau reported that US retail sales rose 0.6% to $ 621.3 billion in June, following a 1.7% drop in May. This reading was better than the market’s expectation of a 0.4% contraction. Later in the session, the University of Michigan will release the preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index for July.
Among the top 11 S&P sectors, the risk-sensitive Tech Index is up 0.5% on the day. On the other hand, the materials index is down 0.25% as the worst performer after the opening bell.
S&P 500 chart (daily)
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