S&P 500 Index opens in red below 4,200, energy stocks underperform

• Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower on Friday.
• Energy stocks underperform pressured by falling crude oil prices.

Major equity indexes opened in the negative territory on Friday as investors may be looking to book their profits on the last day of the month. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was down 0.5% at 4,189, the Nasdaq Composite was losing 0.62% at 13,883 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was falling 0.38% at 33,930.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is down nearly 1% after the opening bell as US crude oil prices are losing 1.6% on a daily basis. Moreover, the Technology Index, which managed to post strong gains during this week’s rally, is losing 0.9%. 

The Consumer Discretionary Index is the only major sector trading in the positive territory. Earlier in the day, the data published by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that Personal Income and Personal Spending rose by 21.1% and 4.2% in March.

S&P 500 chart (daily)