U.S. stocks open lower on Fed jitters; Dow Jones down 0.36%

Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, as upbeat U.S. economic data added to speculation over a potential near-term end to the Federal Reserve's bond-buying progran.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.36%, the S&P 500 index retreated 0.54%, while the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 0.50%.

Official data showed that U.S. core durable goods orders rose 1.3% in April, beating expectations for a 0.5% increase, after a 1.7% decline the previous month.

Durable goods orders, including transportation items, rose 3.3% last month, more than the expected 1.5% increase, after a 5.9% fall in March.

The data came after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday that the bank could begin tapering its bond-buying program.

In testimony to the U.S. Joint Economic Committee, Fed Chairman Bernanke said a decision to scale back the Fed’s asset purchase program could be taken in the "next few meetings" if economic data continued to improve.

In company news, consumer products maker Procter & Gamble was said to be replacing Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald with his predecessor, A.G. Lafley, sending shares up 4.24%.

On the downside, Hewlett-Packard slid 0.88% after the stock soared over 17% on Thursday, a day after the world's largest PC maker raised its 2013 earnings outlook following quarterly results that beat expectations.

Also in earnings news, retailer Abercrombie & Fitch reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and said full-year forecast also fell short of estimates, sending shares down 10.50%.

Among Internet-related companies, Google declined 0.72% amid reports the maker of the Android operating system is considering buying map-software provider Waze Inc., possibly leading to a bidding war with Facebook.

Separately, Salesforce.com plunged 5.10% after the business software producer matched market estimates for first-quarter earnings. However, the company issued a disappointing forecast for the current quarter.

Financial stocks added to losses, as Citigroup slipped 0.16% and Goldman Sachs fell 0.21%, while JP Morgan declined 0.28%.

Other stocks in focus includedFootlocker, scheduled to report first-quarter earnings after the closing bell.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.54%, France’s CAC 40 edged down 0.17%, Germany's DAX slid 0.68%, while Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.65%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.23%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.58%.