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U.S. stocks open lower ahead of French election

Xinhua, April 21, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Friday, as investors became cautious ahead of France' s presidential election.

The world turned its attention to the coming French presidential election set to start on Sunday.

Meanwhile, traders also kept an eye on earnings reason. Shares of General Electric ticked down 0.36 percent early Friday even though the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Visa also reported strong quarterly results on Friday and announced a 5 billion U.S. dollars share repurchase program.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 11.1 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 6.6 percent.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4.08 points, or 0.22 percent, to 20,574.63. The S&P 500 lost 2.17 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,353.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 6.67 points, or 0.11 percent, to 5,910.11.

Nasdaq notched record close on Thursday, as investors cheered U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's remarks on tax reform.

Mnuchin said that the U.S. administration will unveil a tax plan very soon, according to media reports. Endi