US stock market opens mixed

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices in the US stock market opened mixed Friday after retail sales data, which fell sharply in December, much lower than market estimates.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 250 points, or 0.7%, to 35,865 at 9.39 a.m. EDT. The S&P 500 fell 13 points, or 0.28%, to 4,646.

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, was up 12 points to 14,818.

US retail sales in December plummeted 1.9% from the previous month, according to figures released earlier by the Commerce Department. The market expectation for last month was only a 0.1% drop.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was up 2.5% to 20.81, still managing to stay above the critical level of 20.

The dollar index gained 0.2% to 94.98, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 2% to 1.743%.

Precious metals were mixed with gold flat at $1,822 per ounce and silver decreasing 0.25% to $23.03.

Crude prices gained around 0.8% with Brent crude trading at $85.26 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $82.81.

Bitcoin has continued its decline, falling another 4.2% to $42,480, while some cryptocurrencies were down as much as 8%.

The crypto market's total value was around $2 trillion with a 4.1% daily loss, according to data by digital asset price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.