The US markets settled in red territory on Friday amid concerns about the global economic outlook following the release of disappointing Chinese data. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed China's economy grew at the slowest rate in nearly three decades in the third quarter, raising pressure on policymakers to roll out more stimulus. China's GDP grew 6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter after rising 6.2 percent in the second quarter. This was the slowest growth since the early 1990s. Growth was forecast to slow marginally to 6.1 percent. Besides, lingering uncertainty about a possible US-China trade deal and questions about the Brexit deal getting through parliament also weighed on the markets.
On the economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing an unexpected drop by its reading on leading US economic indicators in the month of September. The Conference Board said its leading economic index edged down by 0.1 percent in September after dipping by a revised 0.2 percent in August. Market participants had expected the index to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month. Moreover, earnings season gets into full swing next week, with a slew of big-name companies scheduled to release their quarterly results. Traders are looking ahead to the report on new and existing home sales and durable goods orders to be out in next week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 255.68 points or 0.95 percent to 26770.20, Nasdaq declined 67.31 points or 0.83 percent to 8089.54 and S&P 500 was down by 11.75 points or 0.39 percent to 2986.20.
