4:13pm: Indexes fall across the board
The Dow closed Tuesday down 63 points, 0.2%, at 35,088, the Nasdaq Composite shrank 85 points, 0.6%, to 14,200 and the S&P 500 declined 9 points, 0.2%, to 4,538. The small-cap Russell 2000 index lost 22 points, 1.2%, to 1,785.
The Nasdaq and S&P each lost five-day winning streaks after investors reacted to minutes from the October 31-November 1 Fed meeting, which indicated that monetary policy may remain "restrictive" if inflation doesn't continue to fall.
“In discussing the policy outlook, participants continued to judge that it was critical that the stance of monetary policy be kept sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to the Committee’s 2 percent objective over time,” the minutes read.
Among the laggards was Lowe's, shares of which fell more than 3% on disappointing earnings results.
12:00pm: US stocks retreat on mixed earnings, ahead of Fed minutes
US stocks retreated after some weak earnings in the retail sector and ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 81.45 points, 0.2%, at 35,069.59, the S&P 500 was down 13.08 points, 0.3%, at 4,534.30 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 108.00 points, 0.8%, at 14,176.54.
“Ahead of Nvidia's after-hours earnings, Wednesday's FOMC minutes and the prolonged Thanksgiving weekend, traders have cashed in some of their last three-week strong equity gains as corporate results from big US retailers disappoint," said Axel Rudolph at IG.
Ford was in the news as it said it was scaling back investment in its electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan as US car manufacturers reassess their EV plans in response to slowing consumer take-up of those vehicles.
The automaker is moving ahead with its plans to build the factory, but is “re-timing and resizing some investments,” it said on Tuesday.
9:40am: Wall Street on the back foot ahead of Fed minutes, Nvidia
Stocks made a cautious start to the day ahead of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting and following a mixed bag of results from a number of leading retailers.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 92.59 points, 0.3%, at 35,058.45, the S&P 500 was down 12.14 points, 0.3%, at 4,535.24 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 51.16 points, 0.4%, at 14,233.38.
There was mixed news as a number of retailers revealed latest earnings with Lowe's and Best Buy falling after cutting guidance on weaker-than-expected sales in the third quarter.
But Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF), Dick’s Sporting Goods and Burlington Stores raised their annual outlooks, betting on high holiday season demand after reporting strong back-to-school sales.
Elsewhere, China has approved the merger between US chipmaker Broadcom and cloud software company VMware, clearing a regulatory hurdle that has hung over the $69 billion deal.
Beijing approved the deal with some “restrictive conditions”, according to a statement from the anti-monopoly regulator on Tuesday.
Results from Nvidia will be released after the closing bell with hopes high after recent forecast-busting numbers.
7:00am: Stocks seen lower ahead of FOMC, Nvidia
US stocks are expected to open lower ahead of the minutes of the latest FOMC meeting and a bumper batch of earnings, including from Nvidia after the market close.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2%, while those for the S&P 500 were 0.2% lower, and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures eased 0.1%.
Joshua Mahoney at Scope Markets said: “After a quiet start to the week, the big macro event of the day will be publication of the FOMC meeting minutes.”
“In the event these contain further hints of monetary policy being relaxed, that would have the potential to give stocks another broad-based leg up, extending recent gains,” he reckons.
Aside from Nvidia, several retailers including Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Burlington Stores, Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) and Kohl’s will report earnings before Wall Street’s opening bell.
Another retailer, Lowe's saw shares fall more than 5% in pre-market trading after it cut guidance on lower than expected DIY sales.
HP and Nordstrom will post their latest earnings after the market closes.
In economic news, sales of existing homes in the US are forecast to have ticked down to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.9 million from 3.96 million in October, continuing a downward trend as owners hang onto their residences amid high borrowing costs.