Stocks lost ground in early trading Friday, putting major indexes on track for their third straight day of declines, after a closely watched report showed that inflation remains sticky.
The S&P 500 was down 0.6% about half an hour after the opening bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite each fell 0.7% Stocks have retreated in recent days on fresh concerns about tariffs as President Trump announced levies on all imports of cars and auto parts. Nonetheless, the major indexes came into Friday’s session in positive territory for the week, putting them in position to post gains for the second straight week, as the market slowly rebounds from a month-long selloff.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures report released this morning showed that core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose more than expected last month. The higher-than-expected reading—annual core PCE came in at 2.8% in February, versus the 2.7% economists had estimated—heightens concerns that the U.S. economy could be headed toward a high-inflation, low-growth period, especially once the impact of tariffs is felt in the coming months.
Investors will also be watching consumer sentiment data that’s scheduled to be released later this morning. Recent indicators have shown that consumer confidence is waning, which threatens to cause spending to slow and economic growth to stall.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which tends to fall when concerns about the economy rise, was at 4.30% this morning, down from 4.37% at yesterday’s close. The yield, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, hit its highest level in a month on Thursday.
Mega-cap technology stocks were mostly lower in early trading. Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) were losing ground. EV maker Tesla (TSLA), which is seen as less affected by the tariffs than other automakers, inched higher, as did AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA).
Among other noteworthy tech sector movers, shares of AppLovin (APP) rose more than 4% after losing one-fifth of their value yesterday when Muddy Waters became the latest short-seller to issue a report alleging inappropriate business practices by the advertising technology company. Serve maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI) was up 2%, rebounding from a steep decline Thursday.
Lululemon Athletica (LULU) shares tumbled 13% in early trading after the apparel retailer issued disappointing guidance citing a slowdown in consumer spending owing to concerns about inflation and the economy. Ralph Lauren (RL) shares were down 3%.
Shares of Strategy (MSTR), formerly known as MicroStrategy and one of the world’s largest holders of bitcoin, were down 3% this morning as the digital currency lost ground. Bitcoin was at $85,000, down from an overnight high of $87,700.
Gold futures were up 0.7% at $3,110 an ounce, trading at record-high levels, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, slipped 0.3% to $69.70 per barrel.