U.S. markets open with slide Friday

New York -- U.S. stock indexes started lower Friday in spite of news that housing starts rebounded 8.2 percent in April.

Following a decline of 13.8 percent in March, the Commerce Department reported housing starts bounced back with a 36.0 percent gain in multifamily construction starts, while single-family starts dropped 1.7 percent.

After an initial step up, the Dow Jones industrial average slid 13.52 points, or 0.1 percent Friday to 12,979.14. The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 1.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,422.25. The Nasdaq composite index fell 6.76 points to 2,526.97, off 0.27 percent.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 7/32 to yield 3.848 percent.

The dollar was mixed. The euro traded at $1.5493 from Thursday's $1.5464 and
the dollar traded at 104.68 yen from Thursday's 104.60 yen

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index dropped 32.26 points to 14,219.48, off 0.23 percent.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.