Dow Jones, S&P 500 snap 5-day streaks of record highs

Retail sales dipped 1.1% in July

U.S. stock indexes fell Tuesday as investors digested earnings from big retailers and a disappointing retail sales number. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 282 points, or 0.79%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.7% and 0.93%, respectively. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 ended their five-day streaks of closing at record highs. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 44782 -128.65 -0.29%
SP500 S&P 500 6047.15 +14.77 +0.24%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 19403.947849 +185.78 +0.97%

Investors got a look into the health of the consumer with retail sales declining 1.1% in July, worse than the 0.3% drop that was expected. The slowdown came amid a resurgence in COVID-19 infections.  

In stocks, Dow component Walmart reported earnings and revenue that exceeded Wall Street estimates as back-to-school shopping provided a lift. The big-box retailer forecast full-year and current-quarter profit ahead of what analysts were expecting. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
WMT WALMART INC. 92.50 +0.62 +0.67%
HD THE HOME DEPOT INC. 429.13 +1.94 +0.45%

Fellow Dow member Home Depot Inc. beat on both the top and bottom lines, but same-store sales grew by the smallest amount in two years as the do-it-yourself trend diminished amid a reopening of the economy. 

Target Corp. and Lowe’s Companies Inc. are among the companies scheduled to release their quarterly results Wednesday. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TGT TARGET CORP. 121.77 -33.11 -21.38%
LOW LOWE'S COMPANIES INC. 262.68 +3.45 +1.33%

Elsewhere, financial firms, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., were lower as buying across the Treasury complex pushed the 10-year yield down four basis points to 1.23% while flattening the yield curve. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
JPM JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. 246.25 -3.47 -1.39%
BAC BANK OF AMERICA CORP. 47.04 -0.47 -0.99%
C CITIGROUP INC. 71.39 +0.52 +0.73%

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil slid 70 cents to $66.59 a barrel and gold sank $1.90 to $1,785 an ounce. 

Overseas markets were mostly lower. 

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

European bourses were mixed with Germany’s DAX 30 and France’s CAC 40 losing 0.02% and 0.28%, respectively, while Britain’s FTSE 100 ticked up 0.38%. 

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.36%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.66% and China’s Shanghai Composite tumbled 2%.