US stocks slip as investors weigh economic indicators ahead of Fed policy meeting

• The S&P 500 tilted lower in Friday's session featuring 'quadruple witching' of contract expirations.
• Wall Street's benchmarks are headed for a weekly decline.
• Investors are getting ready to hear from the Federal Reserve next week as the central bank eyes tapering asset purchases.

US stocks sagged Friday, heading toward a losing week during which investors assessed mixed data from an economy still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic alongside the likelihood of the Federal Reserve pulling back on stimulus measures.

The two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee kicks off on Tuesday, September 21.

Market moves may be choppy with quadruple witching taking place. The simultaneous expiration of equity options, index options, equity single stock futures, and equity index futures in September is the third of four such events set to take place this year. The S&P 500 was on course for its eighth loss in 10 sessions and all three equity benchmarks were looking at modest weekly declines.

Here's where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Friday:

• S&P 500: 4,465.42, down 0.19%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,722.48, down 0.08% (28.84 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 15,157.37, down 0.18%

This week, investors received August retail sales that beat expectations but weekly jobless claims that came in higher than forecast at 332,000.

Downside risks are "piling up," ranging from Fed tapering to COVID infections to rising energy prices, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, in a note. The Federal Reserve will begin its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday.

"This week's data from the US has alleviated some of the concerns but ultimately, if the message from the Fed is that it's planning to reduce asset purchases regardless of downside risks due to inflation concerns, a taper tantrum may swiftly follow," Erlam said.

Around the markets, gold gained 0.4%, at $1,796.51 per ounce. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.34%.

Oil prices fell. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 0.6% to $72.20 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, declined 0.5%, to $75.30 per barrel.

Bitcoin was off 0.7% to $44,453.59.