US close: Retailers help keep Dow above water
Wall Street's main market gauges closed in a mixed state on Tuesday after a weak reading for US housing starts, although better-than-expected quarterly reports out of retail giants Walmart and Home Depot kept the Dow in the green.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.71% at 34,152.01 and the S&P 500 added 0.19% to 4,305.20, while the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.19% at 13,102.55.
“Markets were bracing themselves following not one, but two profit warnings from US retail giant Walmart,” said AJ Bell financial analyst Danni Hewson.
“But some smart discounting won over cash-strapped consumers and, with gas prices also falling, the grocer beat expectations and pulled competitors up with it.
“It helped that Home Depot delivered some similar good news at the start of a retail results week investors had been girding their loins for”
In economic news, the Department of Commerce reported that in seasonally-adjusted terms, the annualised rate of housing starts in July fell at a month-on-month pace of 9.6% to reach 1.446m (consensus: 1.54m).
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, labelled the starts data "horrible", explaining that it was the fifth consecutive monthly drop, the largest of the sequence, and that the annualised rate of starts had fallen below 1.0m for the first time since June 2020.
On the other hand, US industrial production rose a bit more quickly than expected last month.
The Commerce Department said that total industrial output grew at a month-on-month pace of 0.6% in July (consensus: 0.3%).
In equities, big-box retail giant Walmart jumped 5.11% after posting better-than-expected sales and earnings for the three months to June, and revising its guidance for sales growth in 2023 a tad higher.
Home Depot shares were also on the up, gaining 4.06% after the DIY retailer beat analyst estimates for its second quarter.
Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com. Additional reporting by Alexander Bueso.
Dow Jones - Risers
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $139.37 5.11%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $327.28 4.06%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $42.04 2.36%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $118.06 1.50%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $56.11 1.39%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $136.51 1.21%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $123.63 0.96%
Boeing Co. (BA) $172.08 0.94%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $149.93 0.92%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $167.57 0.89%
Dow Jones - Fallers
3M Co. (MMM) $150.26 -0.77%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $189.59 -0.77%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.19 -0.41%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $292.71 -0.26%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $156.41 -0.26%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $354.97 -0.25%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $173.03 -0.09%
American Express Co. (AXP) $165.35 -0.03%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $90.59 -0.01%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $4.11 7.31%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $136.59 7.22%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $117.16 3.53%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $92.64 2.75%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $135.11 2.67%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $125.80 2.60%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $42.04 2.36%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $82.42 2.23%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $15.04 2.10%
Marriott International - Class A (MAR) $166.24 1.88%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $19.47 -3.71%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $219.83 -2.98%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,053.75 -2.67%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $6.60 -2.51%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $136.14 -2.42%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $382.24 -2.20%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $36.78 -2.18%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $95.03 -1.97%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $233.71 -1.91%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $76.45 -1.48%