 "A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday | Photo: Reuters")
US stocks extended their recent selloff on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 hitting a three-week low, as energy shares dropped with oil prices and retailers including Target and Kohl's sank after weak earnings and forecasts.
Target Corp shares slumped 9.5 per cent after third-quarter profit missed analysts' estimates. The company's investments in its online business, higher wages and price cuts hurt margins.
Department store operator Kohl's Corp shed 7.8 per cent after its full-year profit forecast fell below expectations.
Warnings from retailers added to caution for investors, already on edge over recent sharp losses in technology shares, a slowdown in global growth, peaking corporate earnings and rising interest rates.
"Despite what has been a pretty good earnings season, people are looking ahead to next year and are worried about a slowdown," said Mark Kepner, equity trader at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
"It's sell first, ask questions later at this point."
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The S&P 500 and Dow slipped into negative territory for the year, and the Nasdaq fell to its lowest level in more than seven months.
The S&P energy index tumbled about 3 percent and led sector losses as U.S. oil prices ended the day down 6.6 per cent amid concerns about rising global supplies. The S&P 500 retail index lost 2.3 per cent, on track for its eighth straight session of losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 513.95 points, or 2.05 per cent, to 24,503.49, the S&P 500 lost 46.72 points, or 1.74 per cent, to 2,644.01 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 119.76 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 6,908.72.
Among other retailers, home improvement chain Lowe's Cos Inc fell 5.3 per cent after it unveiled further plans of restructuring in the face of worse-than-expected sales numbers.
TJX Cos Inc slipped 3.8 per cent after the discount retailer's holiday-quarter earnings forecast came in largely below estimates. Smaller rival Ross Stores fell 8.1 per cent after it forecast fourth-quarter same store sales below analysts' expectations.
Apple Inc shares fell 4.5 per cent as concerns lingered over slowing demand for iPhones. The stock, which has led the market through much of its long bull run, is at its lowest level since early May.
Signs of cooling demand for iPhones have wide-ranging implications for technology and internet companies.
Should Apple's loss hold through the day, its shares would have lost more than 20 per cent of their value, or around $250 billion, since its Oct. 3 record closing high.
Goldman Sachs trimmed its price target on Apple for the second time in just over a week, saying the balance of price and features in the new iPhone XR may not have been well-received by users outside of the United States.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 5.85-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.10-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and 41 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 10 new highs and 263 new lows.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
