Wall Street opens slightly lower after data

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday as strong economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials suggested monetary policy could be tightened by the year end.

he Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.1 points, or 0.19 percent, at 18,246.93, the S&P 500 was down 3.1 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,156.63 and the Nasdaq composite was down 8.27 points, or 0.16 percent, at 5,307.75.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)