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E-mail Xinhua, June 14, 2013
U.S. stocks opened slightly lower Friday, taking a breather from a big rally on Thursday, as investors are digesting a bunch of economic data for any hint of the Federal Reserve' s policy meeting next week.
On the economic front, the seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) for finished goods rose 0.5 percent in May, after falling in the previous two months, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday. The latest PPI figure came in higher than analysts' estimates.
Meanwhile, the initial reading of the U.S. current account deficit increased to 106.1 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2013 from the sharply revised-down figure of 102.3 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Commerce Department said.
The increase in the deficit was due to a decrease in the surplus on income and an increase in outflows of net unilateral current transfers, the department added.
Other data showed the U.S. industrial production in May remained unchanged from the prior month and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment dropped in June.
Wall Street surged in the previous trading day, rebounding from sell-offs earlier this week, boosted by better than expected U.S. economic data and a report from Wall Street Journal's chief economics correspondent Jon Hilsenrath, who argued that the Fed is likely to push back on market expectations of rate increases at its policy meeting next week in a bid to ease market volatility over the past couple of weeks.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 15.43 points, or 0.10 percent, to 15,160.65 points. The S&P 500 edged down 1.78 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,634.58 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 2.22 points, or 0.06 percent, to 3,443.15 points. Endi
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