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Major U.S. stock indexes fluctuated on Tuesday after data showed housing starts dropped sharply last month.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained red 81.14 points to 34,246.65.
The S&P 500 skidded 5.5 points to 4,157.79,
The NASDAQ hiked 53.11 points to 13,432.15. Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft all traded higher.
Better-than-expected earnings from big retailers helped support sentiment. Walmart shares jumped more than 3% after reporting strong grocery sales and e-commerce growth for the quarter. Macy’s shares rose more than 1% after the retailer posted a surprise profit and hiked its full-year outlook.
Home Depot shares rose more than 1% after stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The retailer reported earnings of $3.86 a share for the previous quarter, much higher than the $3.08 expected by analysts. Net sales surged 32.7%, more than expected.
Housing starts tumbled 9.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.569 million units last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast starts falling to a rate of 1.7 million units in April.
Growth-heavy stocks have remained under pressure in recent sessions as investors fret over whether a pop in inflation will entrench or blow over as the Federal Reserve expects. Inflation above the Fed’s 2% target for a sustained period could prompt the central bank to tighten monetary policy and dampen stocks that outperform the market when interest rates are low.
The Fed’s minutes from its last meeting, which will be released Wednesday, could offer some clues on policymakers’ thinking on inflation.
Elsewhere, the first-quarter earnings season is wrapping up with more than 90% of the S&P 500 companies having reported their results. So far, 86% of S&P 500 companies have reported a positive EPS surprise, which would mark the highest percentage of positive earnings surprises since 2008 when FactSet began tracking this metric.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys were unchanged, keeping yields at Monday’s 1.65%.
Oil prices sank $1.19 to $65.08 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $2.80 to $1,864.80 U.S. an ounce.
