Wall Street opens deep in red on dismal US data, China tensions

• US stocks fall on Friday as risk aversion takes control of financial markets.
• Retail Sales in US fell more than expected in April.
• US Commerce Department bans Huawei from exporting technology from US.

Wall Street’s main indexes started the last day of the week in the negative territory as dismal data releases from the US and heightened tensions with China weighed on the sentiment.

Tech shares underperform on Friday

As of writing, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5% on the day while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were down 1.1% and 0.65%, respectively.

The US Commerce Department on Friday announced that it has decided to ban Huawei from acquiring semiconductors that are produced by certain software and technology firms in the US.

Meanwhile, the data published by the US Census Bureau showed that Retail Sales in April declined by a record pace of 16.4%. Moreover, Industrial Production fell by 11.2% in April following March’s fall of 4.5%. Reflecting the risk-off atmosphere, the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, is up nearly 6% on the day.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Technology Index is down 1.4% as one of the worst performers alongside the Utilites and the Real Estate indexes. On the other hand, the Energy Index and the Healthcare Index are staying flat on the day in the early trade.