Wall Street opens lower as energy, finance stocks weigh

Investors assess that if the 'Trump rally' had gone too far too soon

US stocks opened lower on Friday, dragged down by a drop in financial and energy stocks and as investors assessed if the "Trump rally" had gone too far too soon.

The S&P 500 is up more than 10 per cent since the US election, while the Dow notched a record high for a tenth straight session on Thursday, spurred by US President Donald Trump's promises of tax reforms, reduced regulations and increased infrastructure.

But, with Trump giving scant detail on his plans — including one on Thursday to bring millions of jobs back to the United States — markets have traded in a tight range.

The benchmark S&P 500 index has not registered a move of at least one per cent in either direction since December 7.

"Investors have embraced this oversimplified fundamental story of Trump's impact on the financial market and you're starting to see that narrative unravel a bit," said Aaron Clark, portfolio manager at GW&K Investment Management.

"The market will come to realise that a lot of these pro-growth policies might get pushed to the end of this year or next year and you might have this buyer's remorse for the market."

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that any policy steps would probably have only a limited impact this year. Investor will likely get more clarity on Trump's plan on Tuesday, when he addresses a joint session of Congress.

At 9:41 am ET (14:41 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 47.05 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 20,763.27.

The S&P 500 was down 8.6 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 2,355.21.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 27.24 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 5,808.26.

Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the financial index's 1.06 per cent fall leading the decliners.

Bank of America fell 1.35 per cent and weighed the most on the S&P, while Goldman Sachs' 1.43 per cent drop pulled down the Dow.

Oil prices were down about 1 per cent after US crude inventories rose for a seventh week, showing the market is still struggling to ease oversupply.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise fell 8.41 per cent to $22.57 after the company cut its full-year profit forecast.

Baidu was down 4.32 per cent at $176.67 as the internet search giant's revenue fell for a second straight quarter.

J C Penney fell 4.1 per cent to $6.58 after the department store operator reported a bigger-than-expected drop in same-store sales for the holiday quarter.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,916 to 750. On the Nasdaq, 1,783 issues fell and 535 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed 11 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 24 new highs and 22 new lows.