NEW YORK: A steep fall in Walmart shares put the skids on the blue-chip Dow’s six-day winning streak, but gains in Amazon and technology stocks initially propped up the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq before they too turned red.
The world’s biggest brick-and-mortar retailer reported a lower-than-expected profit and posted a sharp drop in online sales growth during the holiday period. Its shares slumped 9.4 per cent, on track for their biggest intraday percentage fall in more than two years.
Other retailers including Target, Kroger and Costco Wholesale fell between 1.3 per cent and 3.7 per cent, dragging the S&P consumer staples index down 1.62 per cent.
“The assumption is that we’re all going to have one store and that is Amazon.” The online retailer’s shares were up more than 2 per cent.
At 3.12 pm Tuesday ET (0712 Wednesday AEST), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.08 per cent at 24,947.83, the S&P 500 was down 0.44 per cent at 2,720.23, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.17 per cent at 7,227.11 despite support from tech heavyweights Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft.
LONDON: European shares rose on Tuesday thanks to a slew of well-received results, though banks were a weak spot after HSBC reported weaker-than-expected earnings and said it needed as much as $US7 billion of fresh capital.
The pan-regional STOXX 600 benchmark ended the session with a gain of 0.6 per cent, while the banking index declined 0.1 per cent. A weaker euro also helped euro zone stocks make headway after a lacklustre start to the week.
HSBC dropped 3 per cent after its trading update, the last under outgoing CEO Stuart Gulliver, who has pushed through a painful restructuring of Europe’s biggest bank by market value.
Elsewhere, some positive earnings buoyed sentiment.
Edenred was among top performers, rising 6.5 per cent after the French provider of prepaid meal vouchers and cards reported record 2017 earnings, increased its dividend and expressed confidence for 2018. Energy stocks supported indices, with BP, Total , Royal Dutch Shell and ENI up between 0.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent. Germany’s DAX gained 0.83 per cent to 12,487.90.
London’s FTSE 100 was flat, at 7,246.77, with the world’s biggest miner, BHP, joining HSBC among fallers as it dropped by 4.6 per cent after missing results forecasts.
InterContinental Hotels fell 2.7 per cent after putting shareholder payouts on ice as it pursues a new strategy to accelerate growth.
TOKYO: The Asian markets were subdued with weakness across the region and Chinese markets remaining closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
MSCI Asia index fell 0.25 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei index lost 1.01 per cent to close at 21,925.10.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index, reopening after its Lunar New Year holiday, had edged up by midday on Tuesday, but later fell to close down 0.78 per cent at 30,873.63.
