US open: Dow extends gains, Nasdaq weaker as traders eye Fed comments

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street trading got off to a mixed start on Friday after both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 wrapped up the previous session at all-time highs. As of 1500 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.26% at 48,832.69, while the S&P 500 shed 0.25% to 6,883.94 and the Nasdaq Composite came out of the gate 0.58% weaker at 23,457.46.

The Dow opened 128.68 points higher on Friday, extending gains recorded inthe previous session as the blue-chip index hit a new all-time high on the back of strong gains from high-priced stocks like Goldman Sachs, American Express and Visa.

Broadcom traded lower in early action despite beating fourth-quarter expectations and offering up some strong guidance for the current quarter, while the AI sector also continued to face pressure at the open, with names like AMD and Micron heading south at the open.

While no major data points were scheduled for release on Friday, investors turned their attention to comments from a number of Federal Reserve bankers before the open.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve president Anna Paulson said she views unemployment as a bigger economic threat than inflation, indicating that she sees the Fed having more room to cut interest rates, while Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack said that while the labour market has been gradually cooling, inflation was still above the central bank's target and noted that not having government data had created somewhat of a fog for the Fed.

Kansas Fed president Jeffrey Schmid also said concerns about elevated inflation drove his dissenting vote against the FOMC's rate cut decision this week. He said price increases were still higher than the Fed's target and said that the rest of the US economy remained in good stead, putting him at odds with the bulk of the FOMC, whose concerns regarding the labour market led them to opt to cut interest rates.

Still to come, Chicago Federal Reserve president Austan Goolsbee will deliver a speech at 1530 GMT.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $340.86 1.23% Boeing Co. (BA) $202.94 1.11% Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $24.80 0.90% Visa Inc. (V) $348.72 0.89% Nike Inc. (NKE) $68.32 0.86% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $319.79 0.76% Home Depot Inc. (HD) $359.81 0.66% Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $69.46 0.51% McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $310.98 0.41% Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $283.97 0.39%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $481.27 -0.46% Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $907.24 -0.42% International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $309.55 -0.38% Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $79.14 -0.16% American Express Co. (AXP) $384.63 -0.07% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $98.94 -0.07% Intel Corp. (INTC) $39.49 -0.05% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $625.45 -0.03% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $150.69 -0.02%

S&P 500 - Risers

Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $53.27 4.20% Celanese Corp. (CE) $44.57 4.16% Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $41.96 2.99% General Electric Co. (GE) $296.58 2.83% Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $21.13 2.80% CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $8.87 2.66% Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $96.53 2.59% Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $52.44 2.42% Mosaic Company (MOS) $25.80 2.42% Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) $53.79 2.36%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $374.60 -7.82% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $249.47 -3.48% Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $29.97 -2.87% Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $182.67 -2.42% Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $300.64 -2.34% Arista Networks Inc. (ANET) $131.85 -1.89% Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $195.17 -1.85% Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) $95.39 -1.71% Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $736.23 -1.42% Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $470.79 -1.36%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $140.62 3.20% Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $96.53 2.59% Tesla Inc (TSLA) $458.20 2.53% American Airlines Group (AAL) $15.23 1.84% Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $126.47 1.30% Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $354.83 1.26% Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $2,042.22 1.11% Intel Corp. (INTC) $39.94 1.10% Hasbro Inc (HAS) $84.88 1.10% DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $11.73 1.08%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $374.60 -7.82% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $249.47 -3.48% Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $182.67 -2.42% Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $300.64 -2.34% Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $736.23 -1.42% Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $470.79 -1.36% Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $126.63 -1.31% Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $1,110.64 -1.09% KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $1,232.96 -1.06% Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $167.25 -0.87%