NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks moved lower in early trade Friday following a solid retail sales report and ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting and referendum on Scottish independence.
About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 58.96 points (0.35 percent) to 16,990.04.
The broad-based S&P 500 lost 8.49 (0.43 percent) to 1,988.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 18.58 (0.40 percent) 4,573.23.
The Commerce Department reported that US retail sales grew 0.6 percent in August, picking up from growth of 0.3 percent in July.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said traders are hesitant ahead of next week's Scotland vote and Fed meeting, which will be analyzed for clues about the timing of hiking interest rates.
"There is a prevailing question right now about what comes next for the stock, bond, and currency markets," O'Hare said.
Car-rental giant Hertz rose 1.6 percent after agreeing to grant activist investor Carl Icahn three board seats, including two that will help to select the next chief executive.
Darden Restaurants gained 0.5 percent as activist investor Starboard Value released a plan for boosting value at the chain, in part by improving its Olive Garden restaurants. Darden said it would review the plan, but that many of the suggestions have already been implemented.
Darden also reported a first-quarter loss of $19.3 million on revenues of $1.6 billion.
Telecom company Sprint shot up 6.5 percent after a presentation by the company's new chief executive, Marcelo Claure, drew positive reviews. Morgan Stanley called the briefing "a breath of fresh air" for outlining aggressive plans to attract customers and cut costs.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury jumped to 2.60 percent from 2.53 percent Thursday, while the 30-year increased to 3.33 percent from 3.25 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
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