U.S. stocks open lower amid data, oil prices

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Friday, as traders eyed data before the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting next week that is expected to raise interest rate for the first time in nine years.

The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand increased 0.3 percent in November, seasonally adjusted, the Labor Department reported Friday.

On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index fell 1.1 percent for the 12 months that ended in November, the 10th consecutive 12-month decline.

Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for November rose 0.2 percent from the previous month to 448.1 billion U.S. dollars, also below market expectations.

Total sales for the September 2015 through November 2015 period were up 1.7 percent from the same period a year ago.

Oil prices continued to hover near a sever-year low after the decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last Friday to keep crude production pumping at the current level in an already oversupplied market.

The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery dropped 0.90 percent in the early trading Friday, and Brent crude for January delivery also lost 1.54 percent.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 209.19 points, or 1.19 percent, to 17,365.56. The S&P 500 shed 22.67 points, or 1.10 percent, to 2,029.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 53.09 points, or 1.05 percent, to 4,992.08.

U.S. stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on Thursday, as market expected that the Fed will announce a rate hike in its next policy meeting. Endi