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 37775.38 +22.07 +0.06%
SP500 S&P 500 5011.12 -11.09 -0.22%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 15601.498878 -81.87 -0.52%

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. 59.27 -0.38 -0.64%
HD THE HOME DEPOT INC. 332.89 +0.06 +0.02%

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. 166.58 +2.11 +1.28%
LOW LOWE'S COMPANIES INC. 228.79 -0.07 -0.03%

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. 181.25 +1.17 +0.65%
BAC BANK OF AMERICA CORP. 35.76 +0.53 +1.49%
C CITIGROUP INC. 58.32 +0.15 +0.26%

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%.