Wall Street little changed as industrial output falls

(Reuters) - U.S. shares were little changed on Friday as U.S. industrial production fell for a fifth straight month in April, pointing to a lack of momentum in the economy.

Industrial output slipped 0.3 percent, weighed down by a decline in production by mining companies and utilities. Economists had forecast a rise of 0.1 percent.

Investors have been keeping a close eye on economic data for signs of improvement in the economy in the second quarter after growth slowed to a crawl in the previous quarter.

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher as a selloff in the global bond market eased after purchases by the European Central Bank.

"As we see volatility subside in the bond market and what seems to be an orderly withdrawal from the fixed-income market before a shift in policy, there is less fear among equity market investors," said Andrew Barber, chief market strategist at Eagleview Capital in Delaware.

Barber said ECB President Mario Draghi clearly sent a message at the IMF meeting on Thursday that quantitative easing in Europe is not going to stop any time soon.

The S&P 500 <.SPX> closed at a record-high on Thursday.

At 9:47 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 8.81 points, or 0.05 percent, at 18,261.05, the S&P 500 was up 0.19 points, or 0.01 percent, at 2,121.29 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was down 0.39 points, or 0.01 percent, at 5,050.41.

El Pollo Loco Holdings shares slumped 13.4 percent to $25.12 after the restaurant chain operator forecast a full-year profit largely below estimates.

King Digital Entertainment fell 4 percent to $14.33 as the "Candy Crush Saga" creator said it expects forex rates and a lack of new releases to hurt bookings.

Netflix rose as much as 3.3 percent to a record-high of $606.47 after Bloomberg reported that it was in talks with a company backed by Alibaba's Jack Ma to enter China.

Avon Products slipped 0.7 percent to $7.02, a day after soaring as much as 20 percent on an apparently bogus takeover offer. Avon said it had received no such offer.

Keurig Green Mountain fell as much as 8.7 percent to a year-low of $94.10, after Bloomberg reported that the K-cup coffee pod maker would not make available its new cold brewing system in all it is retail outlets until next year.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,593 to 1,123, for a 1.42-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,446 issues fell and 877 advanced for a 1.65-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 index posted 27 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 50 new highs and 15 new lows.

(Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky