Consumer Stocks Down on Persistent Retail Concerns - Consumer Roundup

Shares of retailers and other consumer-services companies fell as concerns about the growth rate of major retailers lingered. Foot Locker shares declined after the company echoed fellow sportswear retailers such as Dick's Sporting Goods in reporting weaker-than-expected sales in its latest quarter. One strategist said worries about earnings from Walmart and other major corporations were the primary factor in the broad market weakness this week. "Everyone wants to make it a political picture, and I think, yeah politics played in to a small extent, but it's still about earnings," said Joe Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. "Walmart [was given] a high bar to meet, given where everyone wants them to instantly turn into Amazon," said Mr. Kinahan. "Basically they came out and said we can do a lot of good things but the expectations were so high that it was very tough for them...that touched off a little bit of selling pressure, and that snowballed a little bit." Nestle faces a lawsuit in the U.S. alleging that its Poland Spring brand is "common groundwater" rather than spring water, which the suit claims makes the marketing of Poland Spring water a "colossal fraud."

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 18, 2017 16:55 ET (20:55 GMT)