Investing.com – U.S. stocks traded flat on Friday as investors digested mixed data stateside and watched as oil staged a sharp drop ahead of a meeting of major oil producers on Sunday.
At 15:23GMT, or 11:23ET, the Dow Jones inched up 1 point, or 0.01%, while the S&P 500 edged down a quarter of a point, or 0.01%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite gained 3 points, or 0.05%.
Consumers became more pessimistic in April as shown by the University of Michigan consumer sentiment which unexpectedly fell to its lowest reading since last September on fourth months of consecutive declines.
Consumption is equivalent to more of 70% of the U.S. economy’s GDP and the Federal Reserve (Fed) already indicated its concerns about the weakness in consumer spending seen this year.
Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart even mentioned it on Thursday as one of the reasons for his about-face, saying he would now oppose a rate hike at the April meeting.
Still ahead, Chicago Federal Reserve bank president Charles Evans was scheduled to deliver a speech to the JP Morgan Investor Seminar at 16:30GMT, or 12:30ET.
In other negative macro data, industrial production fell more than expected in March, while manufacturing production registered its biggest decline in 13 months.
On the positive side, the NY Empire State manufacturing index for April expanded to its highest level in more than a year. The index is generally considered to be a leading indicator for the national Institute for Supply management factory survey.
Though stocks were largely unaffected by the data flow, the dollar pushed lower on Friday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, traded down 0.26% at 94.69, at 15:24GMT or 11:24AM ET, moving away from a two-and-a-half week peak of 95.21 hit on Thursday.
In earnings news, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) moved 1% higher after first quarter earnings came out better than what the consensus had feared.
Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) also gained almost 2% after its own quarterly report beat expectations.
Oil fell on Friday as investors took money off the table ahead of the gathering of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in Doha on Sunday to discuss the possibility of an output freeze meant to stabilize oil markets.
Also putting downward pressure on black gold, the Iranian oil minister announced that he would not attend the meeting, although he said the OPEC governor will be present.
Some traders explained that profits were being taken in case of a major disappoint at the meeting.
Meanwhile, investors waited for the U.S. rig count data from Baker Hughes which will be released later on Friday.
U.S. crude futures lost 2.80% to $40.34 a barrel by 15:31GMT or 11:31AM ET, while Brent oil slumped 2.42% to $42.80.