Uber's big, much ballyhoo'd IPO did not get off to the most glorious start Friday afternoon, as an already conservative $45 initial share price appears too rich for investors' blood. Even Lyft had a bit of a first-day bounce on its IPO day!

As of this writing, Uber's stock, which just began trading around noon Eastern Time, is down 4.44% from its initial price, at $43.00. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tried to strike a positive note, telling Reuters from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, "My reaction [to the share price] is if we build and build well, shareholders will be rewarded. We’re certainly not measuring our success over a day, it really is over the years."

Shares actually opened at $42, and fell to as low as $41.06, 9% below the initially set price of $45.

Per Reuters, "Uber’s IPO comes against the backdrop of a spike in trade tensions between the United States and China that has weighed on financial markets and increased investor skepticism about its ability to turn profitable soon enough."

Uber reported a loss of $3 billion last year.

Lyft's IPO has been lackluster in its opening weeks, with shares trading at around $52 Friday, down from an opening day high of $78, down a whopping 33%.

Khosrowshahi told CNBC Friday morning that Lyft's stock performance had influenced Uber's choice to price its shares so conservatively. (But maybe not conservatively enough!)

As public companies that will be facing pressure from Wall Street to show revenue gains every three months, MarketWatch surmises that we're likely looking at the end of cheap rides on both Uber and Lyft in the coming months.