By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks drifted lower again on Friday, on course for a fourth straight weekly loss, although tech stocks outperformed amid selective bargain-hunting.
By 10:10 AM ET (1410 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 136 points, or 0.5%, at 26,680 points. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% but the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1%
The day's only major economic data, if anything, reinforced the sense of unease over the outlook, with core durable goods sales rising only 0.4% in August, a clear slowdown from the summer months in which they rebounded vigorously from the first wave of the pandemic.
The U.S. economic data continues to weaken. This means there is more need for stimulus," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst with Avatrade, "In the absence of such, the stock market selloff is likely to become intense."
Among the first stocks out of the blocks, Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) rose 7.0% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 3.0%, at the end of a week that has seen heavy selling in both. Exercise bike-maker Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON)'s stock also bounced sharply after a negative week in which it was shaken, temporarily, by reports that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) wanted to break into the market for connected exercise appliances. There was no sign of a rival to Peloton's products in Amazon's big reveal of new devices and services on Thursday, which included a Cloud gaming service and new speaker and security camera products.
Costco (NASDAQ:COST) stock fell 2.5%, despite reporting earnings after the bell on Thursday that beat expectations. The wholesaler reported late on Thursday that it saw signs of stockpiling returning to customer behavior.
Biotech group Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) stock rose 8.8% after it began a final phase 3 test of its experimental Covid-19 drug in the U.K., while in over-the-counter markets, ADRs in U.K. bookmaker William Hill (OTC:WIMHY) rose over 30% after a report saying that Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) and Caesars (NASDAQ:CZR) Entertainment had approached it with regard to a buyout. William Hill and Caesars have already announced a major strategic partnership to exploit the gradual liberalization of gambling in the U.S.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock rose 2.5% after Europe's chief aviation safety regulator said its grounded 737 MAX could receive regulatory approval to resume flying in November and enter service by the end of the year. However, that will come too late for one of its privately-held parts suppliers, Impresa Aerospace, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday.