US stocks fall amid China inflation concerns

U.S. stocks fell in early trade on Friday as speculation over interest rate hike in China and concerns about euro-zone sovereign debt weighed on the sentiment.

Global stock markets fell, led by declines in commodities shares on speculation that China is preparing to hike the interest rates to cool the inflationary pressure.

Chinese consumer prices accelerated to 25-month high in October, despite the government's efforts to control inflation. Chinese consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose to 4.4 percent in October compared with 3.6 percent in September.

Meanwhile, leaders of the world's major economies didn't agree to back the U.S. in an effort to get China to let its currency rise at the end of the two-day G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.48 points to 11,265.62 and the S&P 500 Index fell 4.36 points, to trade at 1,209.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index also contracted by 5.34 points to 2,550.18.

On the corporate front, JC Penney's shares fell 1.46 percent despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit after it said sales in the third quarter were hurt by a decision to wind down its Big Book catalogue.

Shares of Dow component Walt Disney climbed 5 percent after the media conglomerate accidentally released earnings before the market closed. Disney's profit fell from a year ago, and was a penny shy of analysts' expectations. However, it gave an upbeat outlook.

Aerospace company Boeing's shares fell 2 percent after it was downgraded by Sanford Bernstein to market perform from outperform.

On the economic front, Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 69.30 from a final reading of 67.7 in October. Economists were expecting a reading of 69.

Meanwhile, euro and pound gained against dollar by 0.75 and 0.26 percent, respectively. The greenback also fell 0.18 percent against yen. Price of Brent crude futures fell $1.40 to $86.41 and gold futures edged down 0.75 percent to 1,392.8.