US stocks open slightly higher following a weak September

The Associated Press

Stocks are opening slightly higher on Wall Street Friday a day after closing out September with their first monthly loss since January. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in early trading. Drugmaker Merck jumped 10% in heavy trading after reporting that its experimental COVID-19 pill cut hospitalizations and deaths by half in people who were recently infected with the virus. Zoom rose 3.4% and Five9 rose 2.4% after the companies called off their merger after failing to win approval from Five9’s shareholders. Natural gas prices, which have more than doubled this year, fell 2.8%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.48%.