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Investing.com – The S&P 500 fell Tuesday, led by a fall in consumer discretionary stocks following weaker quarterly results from Home Depot and worries about the consumer amid data showing retail sales slipped to a two-month low.
The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.3%, or 455 points, the Nasdaq was down 1.4%.
Retail sales dropped 1.1% in July, more than the 0.3% decline expected, paced by a fall in spending on autos, building materials, and nonstore retailers.
“There are two caveats, however. Since April, there has been a consistent pattern of upward revisions to retail sales, so it’s possible that the momentum will improve with the next release,” Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) said in a note.
Cyclicals including industrials, materials, and consumer discretionary were in the red, with the latter down more than 2% amid pressure from retailers including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Home Depot.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) fell more than 4% after reporting weaker-than-expected second-quarter comparable same store sales that offset quarterly results that beat on both top and bottom lines.
“While big ticket demand continues to outpace supply in some categories, slowing demand in smaller-ticket categories is likely a leading indicator to slowing comp growth in the future, keeping us sidelined on HD,” Wedbush said in a note.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) raised its full-year guidance after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter results, sending its shares about 1% higher.
Technology stocks, meanwhile, struggled to replicate their positive start to the week, falling 1%, as megacap tech traded in the red.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were below the flatline.
Health care stocks shrugged off the broader market malaise, led by a 5% surge in Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA).
The U.K. on Tuesday approved the use of the Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for 12- to 17-year-olds.
Other vaccine stocks including Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) were also higher on the day.
Investor attention will shift to monetary policy later as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will host a town hall later today at 1.30PM ET. But fresh clues on monetary policy are expected to be few and far between as Powell would likely prefer to wait until the next Fed meeting in September.
Powell will likely have nothing new to report, not least because “he wants to wait for the next FOMC meeting to get the opinion of his colleagues first,” Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) said.
