Stocks Drop as Washington Weighs

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday as deadlines loomed for a political agreement in Washington that would keep the U.S. government running and avoid a debt default. The Dow Industrial Average shed 77.71 points, or 0.51%, to 15,250.59. The S&P 500 index shed 8.43 points, or 0.50%, to 1,690.24. The Nasdaq Composite declined 17.35 points, or 0.46%, to 3,770.08.

U.S. consumers increased their spending slightly last month as their income grew at the fastest pace in six months. Consumers’ spending on goods and services rose 0.3 percent in August, the Commerce Department said Friday.

BlackBerry Ltd reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion on Friday, in line with last week’s warning. Its net loss for the second quarter ended on August 31 was $965 million, or $1.84 a share. Revenue fell 45 percent to $1.6 billion from a year earlier.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch on Friday became the latest investment bank to drop its 2014 forecast for gold, cutting its view by 17.2% to $1,294 an ounce.

Struggling department store operator J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP) expects to raise up to $932 million from a share sale, leaving it with about $2.2 billion in cash at the end of the year.

BP will battle to hold down fines that could hit $18 billion (11 billion pounds) in a new phase of the Gulf of Mexico trial that will rule on how much oil it spilled in 2010 and judge its efforts to plug its well.