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 44296.51 +426.16 +0.97%
SP500 S&P 500 5969.34 +20.63 +0.35%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 19003.651134 +31.23 +0.16%

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. 90.44 +2.04 +2.31%
HD THE HOME DEPOT INC. 420.00 +9.62 +2.35%

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. 125.01 +3.42 +2.81%
LOW LOWE'S COMPANIES INC. 264.68 -0.54 -0.20%

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. 248.55 +3.79 +1.55%
BAC BANK OF AMERICA CORP. 46.99 +0.55 +1.17%
C CITIGROUP INC. 69.82 +0.88 +1.28%

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. 

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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%.