4:10pm: Wall Street retreats as investors digest inflation reports
Decent earnings from a slew of major retailers weren't enough to power Wall Street to a strong finish, as inflation concerns still weighed heavily on the minds of investors.
The S&P 500 fell by 12 points or 0.26% to finish at 4,689 points, while the Dow hit 31,931 points, a 0.58% drop for a loss of 211 points. The Nasdaq also sunk 0.33% to finish the day down 52 points at 15,922 points.
12:10pm: US equities mixed midday
US stocks were mixed midday amid strong earnings reports from big-box retailers and higher retail sales -- and inflation.
Retail sales rose 1.7% in October, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday, faster than economists expected. However, inflation is at a 30-year high.
As of noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 171 points, or 0.47%, to 35,971. The S&P 500 fell 6 points, or 0.12%, to 4,695.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 6 points, or 0.04%, to stand at 15,960.
Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at online trading group IG, said lingering inflation concerns are depressing market sentiment.
“US markets continue to struggle in their bid to regain lost ground, with the prospect of tighter monetary policy serving to dampen economic” growth, he said. “Interestingly, the US banking sector has lost traction today, despite the fact that bank lending margins typically improve was rates increase.”
The biggest gainer on the day so far is Elektros Inc, up 12% to $6.30 a share.
10.15am: Dull Wednesday start
US stock indices opened in the red on Wednesday, as expected.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 151 points, or 0.4%, at 35,991 and the S&P 500 was 14 points lower at 4,686. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 37 points, or 0.3% to 15,937.
Macroeconomic data was not conducive to sentiment. US housing starts in October fell to 1.52mln from 1.53mln the month before, below the consensus forecast of 1.58mln. Building permits rose to 1.65mln from September’s 1.59mln but this was also below the consensus forecast, which was 1.63mln.
“Total starts fell because a rebound in multi-family activity - reversing the September dip - was not quite enough to offset a decline in the single-family sector, to a 14-month low but the permits data are more useful because they lead, and are less volatile than starts. In October, most of the increase in permits was in the wild multi-family sector, up 6.6%, but single-family permits rose too, up 2.7% to a five-month high,” said Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
“For most of this year permits and starts have run hotter than implied by the new home sales numbers, as homebuilders sought to add inventory, but they numbers have moved suddenly back into line, thanks to the jump in sales. We expect this to lead to another leg higher in construction activity over the next few months,” Shepherdson revealed.
Among equities, retailer Target Corp dived 4.9% despite the company beating analysts’ estimates with its third-quarter results and raising its full-year guidance. Sector peer Lowe’s Cos went the other way, rising 2.5% as it also beat market expectations with its third-quarter numbers. The home improvement retailer surprised the market by posting a like-for-like improvement in sales and like Target, raised its full-year guidance.
6.30am: Cautious start expected
US stocks were expected to make a cautious start again on Tuesday as investors await more corporate earnings and data amid inflation and interest rate uncertainties.
Futures for the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broader S&P 500 index, and the tech-laden Nasdaq-100 were all trading pretty flat on Tuesday's closes.
A strong earnings season has propelled stocks to fresh highs in recent weeks, offsetting investors’ concerns that higher-than-anticipated inflation would weigh on profits.
Retailers Lowe’s and Target are among the companies set to report earnings ahead of the New York opening bell. Tech firms Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Nvidia are due to release earnings after the market closes.
Among the pre-markets movers, Tesla rose 1% after the electric vehicles maker's chief executive Elon Musk sold another 934,000 shares Tuesday for roughly $973 million, according to forms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, continuing a recent selling spree.
On the data front, economists are forecasting a slight pick-up in US housing starts for October when figures are released at 8.30am ET.
In bond markets on Wednesday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ticked down to 1.628% from 1.632% Tuesday reflecting the inflation and interest rate uncertainties.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s dollar value fell 2.5%, adding to a recent decline as the cryptocurrency comes off record highs.