NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are slipping again on Thursday, this time after the country’s largest retailer delivered a profit that came up short of Wall Street’s expectations.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.3% and was on track for a fifth straight modest loss since setting an all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 236 points, or 0.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.1%.
Walmart weighed on the market and sank 4% after reporting a weaker profit for
the spring than analysts expected. It delivered encouraging growth in revenue and raised its forecast for profit over its full fiscal year, but analysts said the market’s expectations were high coming into the report.
The Bentonville, Arkansas, company’s stock came into the day with a gain of 13.5% for the year so far, well above the rest of the market.
Big Tech stocks are under even more pressure to deliver stronger profits amid criticism that their stock prices ran too high, too fast and have become too expensive because of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.
Several AI superstar stocks have swung sharply this week, taking some shine off their meteoric surges for the year, because of such criticism. But they were holding a bit steadier on Thursday.
Palantir Technologies, which at one point on Wednesday was on track to fall more than 9% for a second straight day before paring its loss, slipped 0.2%. Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the poster child of the AI boom, rose 0.6%.
Coty tumbled 20.6% after the beauty products company reported a loss for the latest quarter, when analysts expected a slight profit. The company, whose brands include CoverGirl and Joop!, said uncertainty about tariffs and the economy are making retailers cautious in their orders.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Nordson, which makes products and systems used for precision dispensing and other things. It delivered profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations, and its stock rose 7.4%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields swiveled a bit but ultimately inched higher following weaker-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy.
One said that more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. The number is still relatively low compared with history, but the increase could indicate a rise in layoffs across the country.
A second report, meanwhile, said manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region is unexpectedly contracting.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.30% from 4.29%. The two-year Treasury, which moves more on expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, also edged up. It rose to 3.75% from 3.74%.
Expectations are high among Wall Street traders that the Fed will cut its main interest rate at its next meeting in September. That would be the first such cut this year, and it would give investment prices and the economy a boost by making it cheaper to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment. But it could also risk worsening inflation.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to give a speech on Friday that could back up such hopes or dash them. He’ll be speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at an annual conference of central bankers that’s been home to big policy announcements in the past.
In stock markets abroad, indexes dipped across much of Europe after a mixed finish in Asia.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, saw its DAX lose 0.3% after the U.S. and European Union officials offered a framework for their trade deal.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6% after a survey showed Japan’s factory activity contracted again in August.
___
AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
