Stocks Opened Lower as Oil Dropped

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday as crude oil prices continued to fall. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately dropped 53.63 points, or 0.30%, to 17,841.59. The S&P 500 was down 2.08 points, or 0.10%, to 2,063.87. The Nasdaq Composite gained 10.66 points, or 0.22%, to 4,903.95.

Crude-oil futures fell Friday after an energy report from the International Energy Agency, said oil prices remain fragile due to unrelenting production by U.S. shale-oil producers. Crude-oil for delivery in April was off about 2.1%, down 98 cents, at $46.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Wholesale prices in the U.S. unexpectedly declined in February for a fourth consecutive month, reflecting cheaper food and a slump in profit margins among wholesalers and retailers. The 0.5 percent decrease in the producer price index followed a 0.8 percent drop the prior month, a Labor Department report showed Friday.

This year’s U.S. profit estimates have fallen sharply in recent months to a mere 1.7 percent growth, Thomson Reuters data shows, as analysts cut already gloomy forecasts for energy company earnings and the dollar keeps climbing, hurting U.S. exporters, including multinationals.

General Motors Co. (GM) is recalling about 64,000 of its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volts over concerns about a buildup of carbon monoxide when a driver forgets to turn off the car.