Wall Street fell to a fifth straight loss on Thursday, hurt by a drop for Walmart and dampened hopes for coming cuts to interest rates.
- The Dow fell 152.81 points, or 0.3%, to 44,785.50.
- The S&P 500 fell 25.61 points, or 0.4%, to 6,370.17
- The Nasdaq fell 72.55 points, or 0.7%, to 21,100.31.
Walmart was one of the market's heaviest weights and dropped 4.5% after reporting a profit for the spring that came up short of analysts' expectations, the AP reports, while Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks held a bit steadier following two days of sharp swings. A new report led Wall Street to scale back hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon deliver relief by cutting interest rates. The report suggested growth in US business activity is accelerating and hit its fastest rate so far this year. That's encouraging for the economy, but the preliminary data from S&P Global also said tariffs helped push up average selling prices at the fastest rate in three years. That's a discouraging sign for inflation. Taken all together, such data has historically aligned more with the Federal Reserve considering a hike in interest rates, rather than a cut, said Chris Williamson of S&P Global Market Intelligence, though no one expects a rate hike.
On Wall Street, Walmart dropped even though it reported encouraging growth in revenue during the latest quarter and raised its forecast for profit over its full fiscal year. Analysts said the market's expectations were high coming into the report. The retailer's stock came into the day with a gain of 13.5% for the year so far, more than the rest of the market. Coty tumbled 21.6% after the beauty products company reported a loss for the latest quarter, when analysts expected a slight profit. The company, whose brands include CoverGirl and Joop!, said uncertainty about tariffs and the economy are making retailers cautious in their orders.