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Stock market closes little changed, retail space hit
19-Nov-19 16:20 ET
Dow -102.20 at 27933.93, Nasdaq +20.72 at 8570.66, S&P -1.85 at 3120.18

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 declined 0.1% on Tuesday in a mixed session. The retail industry was under pressure following disappointing quarterly results and guidance from Home Depot (HD 225.86, -12.99, -5.4%) and Kohl's (KSS 47.02, -11.38, -19.5%).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.4%) also finished lower, while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) and Russell 2000 (+0.4%) finished higher. The Nasdaq closed at another record high.

The session began with each of the large-cap indices setting intraday highs despite the negative sentiment in the retail space. The early advance quickly faltered but overall losses were modest, and transient, as the S&P 500 only dipped 0.3% below its flat line before buyers quickly stepped in to buy the dip.

The retail space didn't benefit from an opportunistic mindset, though, as the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 43.95, -0.87, -1.9%) finished near its lows like the S&P 500 energy (-1.5%) and consumer discretionary (-1.0%) sectors. Home Depot dragged on the consumer discretionary sector while a 3% drop in WTI crude ($55.21, -1.84, -3.2%) weighed on the energy space.

Gains were mainly found in the heavily-weighted S&P 500 health care (+0.7%), information technology (+0.2%), and financials (+0.2%) sectors. The real estate sector (+0.2%) also finished in positive territory.

TJX Companies (TJX 60.64, +1.09, +1.8%) was a bright spot among the retailers after it beat top and bottom-line estimates and raised its full-year guidance. TJX likely tempered some concerns about U.S. consumer spending for the holiday shopping season that may have been engendered by Home Depot and Kohl's.

Separately, shares of AT&T (T 38.00, -1.63, -4.1%) pulled back 4% after the stock was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at MoffettNathanson. Shares of Slack (WORK 21.18, -1.93, -8.4%) sold off on news that Microsoft's (MSFT 150.39, +0.05, unch) competitive product, Teams, increased daily active users by nearly 50% since July.

The U.S. Treasury market was relatively quiet, but demand for longer-dated bonds contributed to some curve-flattening activity. The 2-yr yield was unchanged at 1.59%, and the 10-yr yield declined two basis points to 1.79%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.1% to 97.85.

Tuesday's economic calendar was limited to Housing Starts and Building Permits for October:

Total housing starts increased 3.8% m/m to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.314 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.300 million) while total building permits increased 5.0% m/m to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.461 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.365 million).
There was a sizable jump in starts (+8.6%) and permits (+8.2%) for multi-unit dwellings, yet the key takeaway from the report is that starts (+2.0%) and permits (+3.2%) increased for single-family units in an inventory-constrained environment for single-family homes.

Looking ahead, the FOMC Minutes from the October 30-31 meeting and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index will be released on Wednesday.

Nasdaq Composite +29.2% YTD
S&P 500 +24.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +19.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +18.5% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 27933.93 -102.20 (-0.36%)
Nasdaq 8570.66 +20.72 (0.24%)
SP 500 3120.18 -1.85 (-0.06%)
10-yr Note +3/32 1.784
NYSE Adv 1351 Dec 1507 Vol 842.4 mln
Nasdaq Adv 1806 Dec 1278 Vol 2.1 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Health Care, Information Technology, Real Estate, Financials
Weak: Consumer Discretionary, Energy

Moving the Market

-- Stock market closes mixed; weakness in the retail space

-- Home Depot (HD), Kohl's (KSS) disappoint with quarterly results and guidance

-- Relative strength in the health care sector

-- WTI crude drops 3%, weighs on energy stocks