Wall St. Opens Lower on Weak Retail Sales Report – New York Times

Stocks opened slightly lower on Wall Street on Friday after retail sales and the producer price index came in softer than expected in July. The weakness was seen as sign of consumer caution, although falling gasoline prices also contributed. Global stocks wavered as investors looked to see whether the three major United States indexes can add to their record close as well as upcoming retail sales figures.

KEEPING SCORE The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.12 percent, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index declined 0.12 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.17 percent.

RETAIL IN FOCUS Nordstrom shares rose on larger than expected profit and Dillard's stock was down on weak sales at existing stores. J.C. Penney rose on narrower loss and improved sales.

EUROPEAN MARKETS The DAX index in Germany fell 0.2 percent, and in France, the CAC 40 lost 0.1 percent. In Britain, the FTSE 100 rose less than 0.1 percent.

GERMANY GROWTH The German economy grew by 0.4 percent in the April-June period, a slowdown from the first quarter but better than expected. That helped offset a weaker performance in Italy, whose economy did not grow at all. Overall eurozone growth was confirmed from a preliminary estimate of 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter.

SALES DATA Investors will monitor the release of a report on retail sales in the United States, which is expected to show monthly growth of 0.4 percent in July. That would suggest a continued pickup in consumer spending — a crucial component to growth in the world's largest economy — after a weak start to the year.

CHINA CHURN A Chinese official sought to reassure companies and investors that the growth in the world's second-largest economy is stable after the government reported retail sales rose 10.2 percent in July from a year earlier, down from June's 10.6 percent growth. Factory output rose 6 percent in July over a year ago, down from 6.2 percent in June. Sheng Laiyun, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said the weakness was due partly to one-time factors including summer flooding that caused 200 billion yuan, or $ 35 billion in losses.

THE QUOTE "The trend is good," a spokesman for China's statistics bureau, Sheng Laiyun, told a news conference. "Even though economic growth dropped slightly, the economy is stable and making steady progress, and the steady trend toward improvement has not changed."

ASIA'S DAY In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock index rose 1.1 percent, and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite index in China added 1.6 percent, and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.4 percent. In India, the Sensex gained 1 percent, and markets in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.

OIL PRICES Benchmark United States crude rose 0.7 percent to $ 43.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 16 cents to $ 45.88 a barrel.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES Bond prices rose and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.50 percent. The dollar strengthened to 102.04 yen from 101.86 on Thursday. The euro rose to $ 1.1157 from $ 1.1137.

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