Wall St. opens lower as investors assess earnings, data

The Commerce Department said the personal consumption expenditures price index, excluding the volatile food and energy components, edged up 0.1 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.2 percent increase in February. At 9:38 a.m. ET (1338 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 52.53 points, or 0.29 percent, at 17,778.23, the S&P 500 was down 3.91 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,071.9 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.50 points, or 0.01 percent, at 4,804.79. Stock markets around