Dow futures were muted in early morning trading on Wednesday after the 30-stock average snapped a 5-day winning streak in the regular session.
Dow futures shed just 8 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures, meanwhile, hovered in mildly positive territory.
On Tuesday, the major averages dipped following a decline in retail sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 282 points, dragged down by a 4.3% drop in Home Depot’s stock. The average had its first negative day in 5.
The S&P 500 also slipped 0.7% for its worst day since July 19. The Nasdaq Composite was the relative underperformer, dropping 0.9% as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google-parent Alphabet all closed lower.
The Census Bureau said Tuesday that retail sales fell 1.1% in June, driven largely by a drop in car sales. Economists expected retail sales to fall by 0.3% in July, compared to a revised 0.7% gain in June, according to Dow Jones consensus forecast.
Excluding autos, sales were down 0.4% compared to estimates of a 0.2% slowdown.
The small cap benchmark Russell 2000 dropped 1.2% on Tuesday.
“The stock market is way overdue for a correction, Covid cases continue to spike higher darkening economic reopenings, consumer data shockingly has collapsed recently — including consumer confidence last Friday and retail sales and homebuilders’ sentiment today — several stocks have stopped reacting positively to good earnings, inflation reports remain hot, and Federal Reserve taper talk is everywhere,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group, said.
Earnings season continues on Wednesday with Target and Lowe’s reporting before the bell. Cisco Systems and Nvidia report after the bell.
Stock trading app Robinhood releases its first earnings report as a public company on Wednesday after the bell.
The Federal Open Market Committee publishes its meeting minutes from its July meeting on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET. Markets participants will be looking for clues about the central bank’s stance on inflation and when it could suspend it bond buying program.
