Weak U.S. retail sales data helped set the stage Wednesday for a listless day of trading on Wall Street.
Coming off a two-day losing streak, the major stock indexes spent much of the day drifting between small gains and losses before ending mostly lower.
Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers, sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slightly higher. The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index notched their third straight loss. The price of U.S. oil fell.
In addition to corporate deals and earnings news, traders had their eye on the Commerce Department’s latest monthly snapshot of retail sales. The report, a bellwether for consumer spending, showed retail sales were essentially flat in April, falling short of Wall Street’s forecasts. All told, retail sales have risen just 0.9 percent over the past 12 months.
“The retail sales numbers were really crucial in terms of assessing whether or not the rebound from the first quarter was gaining momentum,” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist for Prudential Financial. “It leaves a lingering concern as to whether or not there’s something more at work keeping the economy from rebounding.”
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 7.74 points, or 0.04 percent, to 18,060.49. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 0.64 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,098.48. The Nasdaq composite added 5.50 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,981.69. The indexes are up for the month and year.
The markets barely budged from the get-go Wednesday, absent the global bond market sell-off that rattled investors a day earlier.
Why wasn’t there a bigger drop in the market? Because some investors anticipate the weaker sales data could give the Federal Reserve one more reason to put off lowering its key interest rate until at least September, said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors.
“The Fed is looking at this data too, and if you thought they would be considering a rate hike in June, I don’t see how you do that on the basis of this data point,” Orlando said. Low interest rates favor stocks.
