Wall Street opens lower, hurt by tech, finance

US stock indices opened the last session of the week lower, dragged down by the tech and financial sectors, following a stream of data from the US, the world's largest economy. 

Earlier US data showed housing starts surged 13.7% in October to 1.290 million units, compared to a 3.2% decline in September to 1.135 million, while analysts expected a 5.6% rise to 1.190 million.

Building permits rose 5.9% to 1.297 million units, compared to a 3.7% drop in September to 1.225 million, beating expectations of a 2.0% rise to 1.250M. 

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the tax reform bill by a 227-205 margin, shifting the legislative final struggle to the Senate, amid concerns the upper house could delay the reforms supported by president Donald Trump, which would cut the corporate tax rate to 20% from 35%, until 2019. 

As of 04:25 GMT, Standard and Poor's 500 shed 0.15%, or 3.82 points to 2,581.82, while Dow Jones declined 0.26%, or 60.48 points to 23,397.88. 

Tech-heavy NASDAQ slipped 0.09%, or 5.99 points to 6,787.31.