Stocks Opened Flat ahead of Yellen Speech

U.S. stocks opened little changed on Friday, as investors braced for a speech by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen ahead of a long holiday weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately gained 29.02 points, or 0.16%, to 17,857.31. The S&P 500 was up 3.82 points, or 0.18%, to 2,093.92. The Nasdaq Composite was up 14.99 points, or 0.31%, to 4,916.76.

U.S. economic growth slowed in the first quarter although not as sharply as initially thought, as a surge in home building and steady
inventory accumulation partially offset the impact of modest consumer spending and soft business investment. Gross domestic product rose at a 0.8 percent annual rate as opposed to the 0.5 percent pace reported last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its second GDP estimate for the January-March period.

Eight automakers said on Friday they are recalling more than 12 million U.S. vehicles for defective Takata air bags, expanding the largest- ever auto safety push, documents posted by U.S. regulators showed.

Oil futures fell below $49 on Friday, moving further away from a seven-month high hit a day earlier, with analysts predicting range-bound markets for the next few months as supply outages slowly help to clear a glut of crude. Brent fell 1.3 percent, or 64 cents, to $48.95 a barrel by 1031 GMT. U.S. crude dropped 45 cents to $49.03 a barrel.