U.S. Stocks Open Down, Chinese Data Disappoints

U.S. stocks opened lowered on downbeat Chinese economic data and lingering disappointment from Europe.

The S&P 500 Index is down 5.43 points, or 0.45 percent, to trade at 1,195.43 at 9:51 a.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 68.64 points, or 0.60 percent, to trade at 11,328.36. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.62 percent.

Before 8:00 a.m. ET, futures on all major U.S. stock indices were decidedly in negative territory on a downbeat third quarter GDP report out of China showing that Chinese economic growth fell to the slowest pace since 2009.

Investors are also smarting over lingering disappointment from cautious comments made by German officials that tempered hopes of a comprehensive Eurozone bailout.

At 8:30 a.m. ET, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that wholesale prices rose 0.8 percent, which exceeded the highest estimate compiled by Bloomberg and came in at the highest level in five months.

U.S. stock futures briefly pared their losses on this report.

However, the inflation was largely due to energy, which may be temporarily and may not be a reflection of a pickup in economic activity.

At 9:00 a.m. ET, the Department of Treasury also reported that foreigners were net buyers of U.S. Treasuries in August, although China, the largest foreign holder of Treasuries, cut its holdings.

Corporate earnings came in mixed. Financials exceeded the market’s expectations as Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) rose 1.21 percent and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) jumped 2.49 percent.

Tech giant IBM (NYSE:IBM), however, reported disappointing result and its shares plunged 4.67 percent.