Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, after the release of disappointing U.S. industrial production data and as investors eyed an upcoming report on consumer sentiment.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.23%, the S&P 500 fell 0.23%, while the Nasdaq Composite index shed 0.32%.
Official data showed that U.S. industrial production fell 0.3% in January, compared to expectations for a 0.3% rise, after a 0.3% increase the previous month.
A separate report showed that U.S. import prices rose 0.1% last month, confounding expectations for a 0.1% downtick, after a 0.2% rise in December.
American International Group tumbled 1.31% after Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche is increasing returns for shareholders as he targets job cuts to simplify the firm.
AIG boosted its quarterly dividend by 25% to 12.5 cents a share and authorized another USD1 billion in stock buybacks on Thursday, after posting fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates.
Avon Products shares plummeted 1.71% as the seller of cosmetics said it may spend as much as USD132 million to resolve criminal and civil inquiries into whether it paid bribes in China and other countries.
Adding to losses, Jos. A. Bank dropped 0.86% after the men's clothing retailer said it is acquiring Eddie Bauer brand from Golden Gate Capital for more than USD800 million.
Ford Motor was down 0.13% after Bloomberg reported that the company now gets most of its global sales growth from small SUVs such as the Escape and EcoSport, which outsold its F-Series pickups by 2-to-1 in 2013.
Meanwhile, Campbell Soup topped quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, sending the canned-soup maker's shares up 5.08%.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed to higher. The EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.35%, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.30%, Germany's DAX advanced 0.35%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.19%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.60%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plummeted 1.53%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.