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Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened mostly lower on Friday, after disappointing retail sales and industrial production data both pointed to the effects of sustained inflation on both consumers and industry.
By 9:45 AM ET (1445 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 285 points, or 0.8%, at 35,829 points, while the S&P 500 was down 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite meanwhile eked out a gain of 0.2%, outperforming on perceptions that any slowdown in the economy would reduce the need for interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
Earlier, official data showed retail sales fell by 1.9% in December, their biggest monthly drop since February. While some factors made the figures look worse than they actually were – shoppers afraid of product shortages appear to have moved up their purchases to October and November last year – the figures still indicated a broad weakening in consumer spending.
Marc Ostwald, chief economist for ADM ISI in London, warned that the figures were even worse when considering that they were not adjusted for inflation.
“It may be that rising prices are also taking their toll,” Ostwald said via Twitter.
Industrial production also fell 0.1% in the month, in contrast to expectations of a 0.2% increase.
