US stocks trade mixed as investors take in Fed's preferred inflation gauge, latest earnings

• US stocks opened mixed on Friday as investors took in new data from the Fed's favorite inflation gauge.
• PCE inflation rose 0.3% last month, in-line with economists' expectations.

US stocks opened mixed on Friday as investors took in new inflation data and the latest earnings from mega-cap tech firms.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, rose 0.3% in September from the prior month and 3.7% year over year, the Commerce Department reported.

That's in-line with what economists expected, but shows prices growing at a faster monthly clip than in August, when they rose 0.1%. On an annual basis, the rate slowed from 3.8% in August.

Meanwhile, consumer spending jumped 0.7% last month, above estimates of 0.5%.

"While there isn't an expectation for a rate increase at next week's Fed meeting, the FOMC will acknowledge the underlying strength of the economy given a still resilient labor market, they may find it appropriate to suggest that financial conditions are still not tight enough quell consumer spending," LPL Financial chief global strategist Quincy Krosby said in a statement.

Investors were also digesting the latest round of earnings. In particular, Amazon shares jumped more than 5% after the ecommerce giant reported stellar earnings, putting the company on track to amass another $60 billion in market value.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Friday:

• S&P 500: 4,144.72, up 0.18%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,735.07, down 0.15% (49.23 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 12,694.38, up 0.78%

Here's what else is going on today:

• Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has lost nearly $50 billion on the metaverse.
• The "Magnificent 7" tech stocks are struggling after having shed $1.2 trillion in market value since July.
• Amazon's market value is set to jump $60 billion after a strong third-quarter earnings report.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.09% to $84.13 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed 0.86% to $87.80 a barrel.
• Gold slipped 0.26% to $1,980.00 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield ticked higher 2 basis points to 4.866%.
• Bitcoin dipped 0.29% to $34,166.35.