Dow Moves Back To The Downside Amid Drop By Home Depot

(RTTNews) - Stocks have fluctuated over the course of morning trading on Tuesday but have largely maintained a negative bias. The Dow has shown a notable move to the downside after snapping a five-session losing streak on Monday.

Currently, the Dow is off its worst levels but still down 203.82 points or 0.6 percent at 33,144.78. The S&P 500 is also down 13.48 points or 0.3 percent at 4,122.80, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 2.99 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 12,368.20.

The pullback by the Dow is partly due to a decrease by shares of Home Depot (HD), with the home improvement retailer falling by 1.6 percent.

Home Depot has come under pressure after the company reported weaker than expected first quarter revenues and lowered its full-year guidance.

Notable declines by Dow components Nike (NKE), Chevron (CVX) and Disney (DIS) are also weighing on the blue chip index.

Ongoing concerns about the U.S. debt ceiling have also generated some negative sentiment ahead of a meeting between President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders this afternoon.

Meanwhile, traders are also digesting a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, including separate reports showing weaker than expected retail sales growth and an unexpected increase in industrial production.

The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.4 percent in April after falling by a revised 0.7 percent in March.

Economists had expected retail sales to climb by 0.7 percent compared to the 1.0 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding an increase in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales still rose by 0.4 percent in April after sliding by 0.5 percent in March. The rebound in ex-auto sales matched economist estimates.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production climbed by 0.5 percent in April, while revised data showed production was unchanged in each of the two previous months.

Economists had expected industrial production to come in unchanged compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

Energy stocks are seeing considerable weakness in morning trading amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil.

With crude for June delivery edging down $0.10 to $71.01 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is down by 2.2 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index is down by 1.7 percent.

Significant weakness is also visible among biotechnology stocks, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index slumping by 2.0 percent.

Seagen (SGEN) is posting a steep loss after Daniel Welch, who serves on the biotechnology company's board of directors, disclosed the sale of 1,864 shares.

Interest rate-sensitive utilities and commercial real estate stocks are also under pressure amid a continued increase in treasury yields, moving notably lower along with gold, natural gas and steel stocks.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has fallen by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both down by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are moving lower for the third consecutive session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 5.4 basis points at 3.562 percent.