Dow Jones falls 198 pts in early trade, S&P 500 holds 5,900; Apple shares dip to $225.5

DJIA Index US Stock Market Today: US equity benchmarks started Friday's session on a weak note, on top of losses to the tune of half a per cent the previous day, amid selling pressure in technology, health and consumer discretionary spaces, though buying interest in energy and financial stocks lent some support, keeping the downside in check. Investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech due during the course of the day for cues in the backdrop against hopes of more rate cuts after the US central bank's widely-anticipated move to reduce the key lending rates by 25 bps this month. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell as much as 197.5 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 43,553.3 while the S&P 500 lost 46.5 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 5,902.7. The technology stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 255.3 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 18,852.3, amid weakness in stocks like Apple and Microsoft. 

At 8:20 pm in India (9:50 am in New York, USA), the DJIA index was down 176 points at 43,574.9, the S&P 500 down 39.5 points at 5,909.7 and the Nasdaq Composite down 220.1 points at 18,887.5.

US Share Market Today: Key events & headlines to track

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at around 1:30 am India time on Saturday (3 pm in New York, Friday).

Here are some of the key events to track on Friday. 

• Fed Chair Jerome Powell speech
• US retail sales data
• US trade data
• US manufacturing data

ALSO READ: Dalal Street Watch | Macro data, earnings, FII activity, other things to track

Apple Shares

At the same time, the Apple stock was trading lower by $3, or 1.3 per cent, at $225.2 per share, having declined to as low as $225.5 during the session so far. 

Dow Jones Index: Top gainers & losers 

Amgen, Merck & Co, Amazon.com, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Salesforce and Apple were the worst hit among the 16 laggards in the 30-scrip DJIA, trading between 1.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent lower. 

On the other hand, Walt Disney, JPMorgan Chase, Nike, Boeing and Travelers Companies, trading between 0.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent higher, were the top gainers.

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