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* U.S. may delay permitting firms to trade with Huawei
* UK GDP contracts unexpectedly in Q2
* Uber slides after reporting record loss
* Defensive utilities, real estate sectors outperform
* Indexes down: Dow 0.31%, S&P 0.41%, Nasdaq 0.68%
(Updates to market open)
By Medha Singh
Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged lower on Friday after
rebounding strongly a day earlier, as investors grappled with
fresh trade tensions, political turmoil in Italy and a surprise
contraction in Britain's economy.
Shares of chipmakers and other tariff-sensitive technology
companies .SPLRCT came under pressure after a report that
Washington was delaying a decision about allowing some trade
between U.S. firms and China's telecom equipment maker Huawei
again. The Philadelphia SE semiconductor index .SOX fell 1.16%,
while Apple Inc AAPL.O slipped 0.6%.
In Europe, Italy's ruling League party Deputy Prime Minister
Matteo Salvini called for early elections; while Britain's
economy shrank for the first time since 2012, raising concerns
as the country gears up to leave the European Union in October.
"Political uncertainty in the eurozone is adding an
additional variable that the market has to juggle around with.
That, coupled with the GDP numbers and the trade war, is giving
investors an indigestion," said Andre Bakhos, managing director
at New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
"Until we get some sort of tangible answers to what the
(Trump) administration is going to do with China, this is going
to be a overhang on the market, creating plenty of sharp
swings."
U.S. stocks roared back on Thursday, recording their best
one-day percentage gain in two months in what has been a
turbulent week for the markets dominated by a symbolic drop in
China's currency.
At 9:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 82.56 points, or 0.31%, at 26,295.63 and the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 12.15 points, or 0.41%, at 2,925.94. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 54.54 points, or 0.68%, at 7,984.62.
Investors seeking safety helped the defensive sectors,
including utilities .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR ,
outperform the other major S&P sectors this week.
Shares of Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N shed 9.4% after the
ride-hailing company reported a record $5.2 billion loss and
revenue that fell short of Wall Street targets. DXC Technology DXC.N tumbled 31.4% after the IT and
consulting services provider cut its full-year profit and
revenue forecast.
Nektar Therapeutics NKTR.O shares plunged 38.2% after the
drug developer flagged manufacturing issues with its
experimental cancer drug bempeg.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.73-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 33 new 52-week highs and three new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and 39 new lows.