US open: Losses at the bell following Italy and Elon Musk's woes
Wall Street trading began with some losses on Friday, with concerns about an SEC investigation into Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and Italy's woes doing the rounds.
As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost 0.07% to 26,421.20, while the S&P 500 was 0.11% weaker at 2,910.89 and the Nasdaq was trading 0.19% weaker at 8,026.69.
Stocks finished the previous session in the green following a tsunami of economic reports, including an update to the nation's second-quarter GDP but in early trading on Friday, continuing worries over trade and a budget-inspired rout in Italian bonds seemed to be weighing on risk appetite
Italy's governing coalition threw down the gauntlet to Brussels on budget austerity on Thursday, opting for a 2019 government deficit target that some economists said marked a "significant deviation" from European Union rules, while others said it may foreshadow the imminent departure of the country's economy minister, Giovanni Tria, which had argued for restraint, although there were also reports to the contrary.
In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down by 2.2 basis points at 3.03% as investors sought out safe havens in the wake of the volatility spike in Italian financial assets.
In corporate news, Honeywell picked up 0.012% after boosting its dividend 10%, while Apple was 0.13% stronger after its target price was boosted at Instinet on the back of "robust" iPhone sales.
Tesla shares tumbled 11.19% after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a suit against the carmaker's chief, Elon Musk.
Boeing edged higher 0.51% at the bell following an announcement that the aerospace giant had clinched a $9.2bn contract with the US Air Force to build a new generation fighter trainer.
Level Brands rallied 1.66% after the licensing and marketing company revealed that it's public offering of 1.7m shares would be priced at $3.50 - a 3.7% discount to its closing price on Thursday.
JC Penney stock tumbled 8.96% to near record lows as its CFO announced his retirement after just 14 months in the role.
Elsewhere, according to the Journal, office chat service Slack revealed that it had been looking into floating its shares in the first quarter of 2019, with the company said to be seeking a market valuation of over $7bnn.
On the data front, both personal income and spending printed at up by 0.3% month-on-month for August, according to the Department of Commerce, versus economists' forecasts for increases of 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
The same report revealed that the 'core' price deflator for personal consumption expenditures, the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation pressures in the economy, printed at flat on the month.
Capital Economics said: "even if core inflation doesn't rise any further the continued strength of real consumption growth is reason enough for the Fed to continue raising interest rates once a quarter."
Meanwhile, the Chicago PMI fell to a five-month low of 60.4 in September, down 3.2 points from August as moderations in output and new orders, alongside weaker hiring sentiment, sent the barometer south, according to the MNI.
Lastly, the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index for September came in at 100.1 - just below preliminary estimates of a 100.8 reading.