U.S. stocks open mostly lower as investors digest PCE inflation data

U.S. stocks opened mostly lower Friday as investors digested data from the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge showing signs of inflation slowing while personal spending last month fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.01%
opened slightly higher before dipping soon after the bell, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.08%
slipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.39%
shed 0.3%, according to FactSet data, at last check. The Bureau of Economic Analysis released data Friday showing that the personal-consumption-expenditures index rose 0.1% in December for a rate of inflation of 5% over the past year. Inflation on a year-over-year basis slowed from 5.5% in November. So-called core PCE, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 4.4% in the year through December, compared with a 4.7% pace in the 12 months through November.