Wall Street closes lower, weighed down by retailers
Major stock indices in the United States performed poorly on Thursday as the shares of department stores came in under a heavy selling pressure after the big retailers announced dismal sales numbers.
After two of the largest retailers in the United States, Macy's and Kohl's reported worse-than-expected sales numbers, the consumer discretionary sector, . SPLRCD, lost nearly 0.6%, dragging the S&P 500 Index 5 points, or 0.21%, lower to 2,390.25. Shares of Macy's lost 15% on the day while Kohl's, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney Co Inc's shares dropped nearly 7%.
- Forex today: an uneventful session although dollar supported PPI ahead of CPI tomorrow
The fact that these weak numbers came before tomorrow's retail sales data from the United States hurt the market sentiment and pushed the other indexes lower as well. Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.11%, or 23.7 points, to 20,918.15 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.22% to 6,115.44.
Commenting on tomorrow's data, "It's a gut check about the health of the consumer," Phil Blancato, Chief Executive of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, told Reuters.
Headlines from the U.S. session
- U.S. Senate confirms Trump trade representative ahead of NAFTA talks - Reuters
- Moody's: U.S. economy has returned to full employment after a decade - Reuters
- US PPI: Signals of stronger inflation pressures - Wells Fargo
- US Dollar upside stalled near 99.80
- US: Federal deficit forecast revised lower – Wells Fargo
- US: PPI for final demand advances 0.5% in April; services increase 0.4%, goods rise 0.5%
- US: Weekly initial claims was 236,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week