S&P 500 Index opens modestly higher, stays below 3,500

• Wall Street's main indexes opened modestly higher on Friday.
• Technology and energy shares post strong gains in early trade.
• S&P 500's defensive sectors trade in the negative territory. 

Major equity indexes in the US opened in the positive territory on Friday as investors continue to cheer the Fed's new policy strategy that places employment before inflation. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.25% on the day at 3,493, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was gaining 0.18% at 28,547 and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 0.6% at 11,996.

Earlier in the day, the upbeat data from the US, which showed that Personal Spending in July increased by 1.9%, provided an additional boost to market sentiment. 

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index and the Technology Index are up 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. On the other hand, defensive sectors, Utilities Index and the Real Estate Index, trade in the negative territory to confirm the upbeat market mood.

S&P 500 chart (daily)