By Sinéad Carew and Avinash P
Aug 20 (Reuters) - The three main U.S. equity indexes closed lower on Thursday as rising Treasury yields dented risk appetite while disappointing results from retail bellwether Walmart soured investors on the consumer sector and rallying oil prices fanned inflation worries.
Walmart shares tumbled 9.2% after the world's largest traditional retailer missed Wall Street expectations for quarterly comparable sales as rising gasoline prices had shoppers reining in spending. The report dragged down the S&P 500 consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors, which were among the weakest of the benchmark's 11 major industry indexes.
Rival retailers such as Costco, Dollar Tree and Albertsons followed Walmart lower with losses between 1% and 2.6%.
The increase in U.S. crude oil above $87 compounded concerns about the health of the U.S. consumer, according to Mona Mahajan, head of investment strategy at Edward Jones. She noted that investors were already anxious after recent weaker-than-expected retail sales and labor market data for July.
#Consumer #lower #retail #investors
Aug 20 (Reuters) - The three main U.S. equity indexes closed lower on Thursday as rising Treasury yields dented risk appetite while disappointing results from retail bellwether Walmart soured investors on the consumer sector and rallying oil prices fanned inflation worries.
Walmart shares tumbled 9.2% after the world's largest traditional retailer missed Wall Street expectations for quarterly comparable sales as rising gasoline prices had shoppers reining in spending. The report dragged down the S&P 500 consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors, which were among the weakest of the benchmark's 11 major industry indexes.
Rival retailers such as Costco, Dollar Tree and Albertsons followed Walmart lower with losses between 1% and 2.6%.
The increase in U.S. crude oil above $87 compounded concerns about the health of the U.S. consumer, according to Mona Mahajan, head of investment strategy at Edward Jones. She noted that investors were already anxious after recent weaker-than-expected retail sales and labor market data for July.
#Consumer #lower #retail #investors
2 months ago
