U.S. stocks fall amid downbeat data

U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session on Friday as investors digested a batch of generally negative economic reports.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 33.01 points, or 0.18 percent, to 18,580.51. The S&P 500 lost 1.41 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,184.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index ticked down 2.80 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,225.60.

The Commerce Department announced Friday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July were 457.7 billion U.S. dollars, virtually unchanged from the previous month and below market estimates of a 0.4-percent gain.

U.S. total sales for the May 2016 through July 2016 period were up 2.5 percent from the same period a year ago.

The Producer Price Index for final demand decreased 0.4 percent in July, seasonally adjusted, missing market consensus of a 0.1-percent gain, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday.

Meanwhile, the preliminary reading of the consumer sentiment for August increased to 90.4 from 90 in July, said the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment on Friday.

In corporate news, shares of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. rose over 3 percent around midday Friday after the U.S. retailer posted narrower-than-expected second-quarter losses and worse-than-expected quarterly sales. Enditem