US stocks open lower but stay on track for weekly gains

Wall Street stocks opened slightly lower Friday as major indices were poised to notch a third straight weekly gain on hopes a slowing US economy will avert a recession.

US stocks entered Friday's session solidly higher for the week after benign inflation data boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve will not enact additional interest rate increases.

"The lack of concerted selling interest is keeping alive the fear of missing out on further gains and is driving some performance chasing," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1 percent at 34,920.60.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 4,505.41, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.2 percent to 14,091.52.

Among individual companies, Gap surged nearly 25 percent as quarterly earnings topped estimates. But the retailer also warned that 2023 sales could be down in the mid-single digit range as it adopts "a prudent view of the economic and consumer environment we are seeing."

Applied Materials fell 4.9 percent following a Reuters report that the chip company faces a criminal probe over potential exports to a Chinese company. The report came as the company offered an upbeat forecast for the upcoming quarter.