Stocks fell on Tuesday, breaking multi-session winning streaks for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index, as retail sales data for July disappointed market participants, raising concerns that the global economic rebound is slowing.
Here's how the market settled Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Google unveils new budget Pixel 5a smartphone:
Google
Pixel 5a offers improvements over the tech giant's Pixel 4a 5G launched last year, offering a larger battery, bigger screen and water resistance. The phone also supports 5G, but not the fastest mmWAve 5G networks and is equipped with the same Qualcomm
Homebuilder sentiment falls to lowest level since July 2020 in August:
Homebuilder sentiment fell by 5 points to 75 in August, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/ Wells Fargo Housing Market Index published Tuesday. While the index still stands in expansionary territory (above the neutral level of 50), it is now at its lowest reading since July 2020. The index posted a reading of 78 last August.
Making up the headline index, current sales conditions declined by 5 points to 81, traffic of prospective buyers fell by 5 points to 60, and sales expectations in the next six months stood unchanged at 81.
"While the demographics and interest for home buying remain solid, higher costs and material access issues have resulted in lower levels of home building and even put a hold on some new home sales," said Robert Dietz, NAHB chief economist, in a press statement.
Here's how markets started trading soon after open:
S&P 500 Index: -0.77% or -34.54 points to 4,445.17
Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.82% or -291.31 points to 35,334.09
Nasdaq Composite Index: -0.99% or -146.63 points to 14,645.76
Retail sales fall at a more-than-expected rate in July:
U.S. consumers spent less than anticipated in July as government stimulus began to fade and renewed coronavirus concerns began to rise amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
Retail sales declined by 1.1% in July over June at a total of $617.7 billion, according to the Commerce Department's monthly report published Tuesday. This was greater than the 0.3% drop consensus economists had expected and reversed June's revised 0.7% monthly rise at a total of $624.7 billion.
Excluding auto and gas sales, July's retail sales fell 0.7%, which was also below the 0.1% dip expected.
