US open: Major indices on track for winning week

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street trading started off on a mixed note early on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nadsaq on track to wrap up a winning week at new highs.

As of 1445 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.10% at 44,441.75, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.18% to 6,308.84 and the Nasdaq Composite came out of the gate 0.28% stronger at 20,944.09.

The Dow opened 42.75 points lower on Friday, taking a bite out of gains recorded in the previous session on the back of a raft of better-than-expected economic data and solid Q2 earnings.

Wall Street stocks were on track to deliver another winning news as market participants seemingly shrugged off reports that Donald Trump was gearing up to fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, with the president both denying the claims and saying that he would not "rule out anything".

On the macro front, housing starts rose 4.6% month-on-month in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.32m, according to the Census Bureau, cutting into May's revised 9.7% drop and broadly in line with expectations, while building permits increased 0.2% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 1.39m.

Still to come, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index will follow at 1500 BST.

In the corporate space, streaming giant Netflix was trading lower in pre-market despite posting an earnings and revenue beat and raising FY revenue guidance, while both 3M and American Express traded higher on the back of Q2 earnings that came in ahead of expectations.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com