- Wall Street’s main indexes opened moderately higher on Friday.
- Upbeat Retail Sales data from US seems to be boosting sentiment.
- Risk-sensitive technology stocks post strong gains after the opening bell.
After closing the previous two days in the negative territory, major equity indexes in the US opened modestly higher on Friday. As of writing, the S&P 500 was up 0.25% on the day at 4,370, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising 0.15% at 35,040 and the Nasdaq Composite was gaining 0.25% at 14,833.
Earlier in the day, the US Census Bureau reported that Retail Sales in the US increased by 0.6% to $621.3 billion in June following May’s decline of 1.7%. This reading came in better than the market expectation for a contraction of 0.4%. Later in the session, the University of Michigan will release the preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index for July.
Among the 11 major S&P sectors, the risk-sensitive Technolgy Index is up 0.5% on the day. On the other hand, the Materials Index is down 0.25% as the underperformer after the opening bell.
