US stocks mildly weaker, Amazon weigh on Nasdaq

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

On the last trading day of the week, US stocks witnessed a slightly weaker opening and extended a sharp retracement that started midday on Thursday.

Amazon's profit miss took a toll on technology shares, with tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index underperforming the broader indices and losing 0.3%, or 20-points to 6,362. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost around 17-points to 21,779 and the S&P 500 Index retreated over 4-points to 2,471.

• US Stocks: Big corporations announce better-than-expected earnings

Risk sentiment also took a hit following the failure of a Republican-led attempt to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act, in a tight Senate vote in the wee hours of Friday morning. Investors remained worried over the US President Donald Trump's ability to deliver on the promised pro-growth agenda - tax reforms and higher infrastructure spending.

Early losses, however, were limited as a key measure of the US economic growth showed marked improvement in the second quarter. The advance US GDP print showed the economy expanded at a healthy 2.6% annual rate and the growth was primarily driven by higher consumer spending.

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

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