Major Averages Posting Modest Losses In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - While selling pressure has waned since then open, stocks are seeing modest weakness in early trading on Friday. The major averages have all moved to the downside after ending the previous session on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

The early weakness on Wall Street is partly due to concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of upbeat retail sales data.

The Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing that U.S. retail sales rose by 0.6 percent in the month of August, in line with economist estimates.

Paul Dales, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the August sales growth combined with upwardly revised July data suggests that annualized real consumption growth in the third quarter will come in between 1.5 and 2.0 percent, a bit stronger than previously expected.

The data has added to speculation that the Federal Reserve may begin raising rates sooner than anticipated, with traders looking ahead to next week's monetary policy meeting.

Reflecting the worries about higher rates, commercial real estate stocks are seeing significant weakness in early trading. The Morgan Stanley REIT Index has fallen by 1.6 percent to its lowest intraday level in a month.

Oil service, housing, and utilities stocks are also seeing early weakness, while most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves.

The major averages have climbed well off their lows for the young session but remain in the red. The Dow is down 32.93 points or 0.2 percent at 17,016.07, the Nasdaq is down 15.03 points or 0.3 percent at 4,576.77 and the S&P 500 is down 6.14 points or 0.3 percent at 1,991.31.