U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite falling around 100 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.24% to 42,198.64 while the NASDAQ fell 0.57% to 17,701.94. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.36% to 5,672.68.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares jumped by 0.6% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 1.4%.

Top Headline

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose more than anticipated in February, underscoring the bumpy road back to the 2% target and throwing cold water on expectations for imminent interest rate cuts.

According to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index increased by 2.5% year-over-year, matching both the previous reading and economist forecasts of 2.5%. On a monthly basis, headline PCE rose 0.3%, in line with estimates.

Equities Trading UP
                       

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $69.82 while gold traded up 0.5% at $3,106.80.

Silver traded up 0.5% to $35.255 on Friday, while copper rose 0.5% to $5.1440.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.3%, Germany's DAX 40 fell 0.5% and France's CAC 40 dipped 0.6%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.5%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 1.80%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.67%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipping 0.65% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.25%.

Economics

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