New York, May 22, 2020 (AFP)
Wall Street stocks pulled back early Friday ahead of a long holiday weekend as Chinese officials refrained from offering a 2020 growth target in light of the coronavirus.
About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 percent at 24,377.17.
The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.2 percent to 2,938.95, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 9,283.95.
China's communist rulers avoided setting an annual growth target for the first time in decades, as they struggle to deal with the "immense" economic challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
The government usually sets economic growth targets that it regularly exceeds.
The move underscores the damage to the global growth outlook, with China's economy hit not only by a coronavirus outbreak of its own but by weaker conditions in key export markets such as the United States and Europe.
Among individual companies, Deere jumped 0.8 percent after the farm equipment maker reported better-than-expected profits and revenues.
Foot Locker fell 6.9 percent after reporting a first-quarter loss of $98 million following store closure due to COVID-19.
US markets will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.

Sumber : AFP