US markets fell across the board on Tuesday, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 leading the market lower, both falling 0.8% as housing figures and oil prices dragged down the consumer and energy sectors.
On the one hand, it was talk of a new US-Iran nuclear deal suggesting the supply of oil would improve. On the other, a 9.5% month-on-month fall in constructions starts in April.
The economy is clearly looking more mixed than headlines results suggest.
Walmart’s upbeat forecasts
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) stock finished 2.2% higher after upgrading guidance for the remainder of the financial year, as early sales showed a continued recovery.
Comparable sales increased 6% in the quarter, excluding fuel, and up 16% when compared over the last two years rather than just the COVID-19 impacted comparables.
Online sales were 37% higher, suggesting the transition to digital is continuing to pay off.
Despite upgrading guidance, management flagged higher wage costs and inventory issues as threats to the recovery along with the need to keep winning new customers.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed on Tuesday.
- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) up 4.8%
- ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC) up 4.7%
- Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) up 4.2%
- Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) up 3.4%
- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) down 1.1%
- Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) down 1.2%
- Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) down 1.7%
- AT&T (NYSE: T) down 5.8%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to follow US markets lower this morning. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.
