Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

S&P 500 Off Session Lows, but Surprise Rise in Retail Sales Stokes Fed Fears

Published 16/09/2021, 19:56
Updated 16/09/2021, 19:56
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 moved off session lows Thursday, but remained under pressure as an unexpected rise in monthly retail sales stoked concerns that the Federal Reserve could tighten policy sooner rather than later.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, or 73 points, the Nasdaq was flat.

“[T]he Treasury curve bear steepened and the S&P500 fell presumably on the good news is bad for Fed expectations logic,” Scotiabank said in a note.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales rose 0.7% last month. That confounded economists’ forecast for a 0.8% decline. The retail sales control group – which has a larger impact on U.S. GDP –  climbed 2.5% topping expectations for a 0.1% decrease. 

“Retail sales rebounded in August, despite sizable drag from auto sales. Outside of autos, sales posted broad-based increases, with particular strength in online sales, general merchandise and furniture sales,” Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) said in a note.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported initial jobless claims increased by 20,000 to 332,000 in the week ended Sept. 11, missing forecasts for a 18,000 decline.

The positive economic data failed to spur cyclical corners of the market as energy and materials were the worst performing sectors on the day.

Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:NEM), Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM), and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX), were the worst performers in materials, with the latter down more than 6%.

Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) deepens its losses amid an ongoing decline in copper prices as tailwinds including stimulus and inflation concerns are expected to fade.

Energy, meanwhile, gave back some its recent gains even as oil prices cut its losses.

Tech stocks struggled to rack up gains as the positive economic data lifted Treasury yields.

Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), were in the red.

In other news, Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) fell 4% after Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to underweight from neutral, and cut its price target on the stock to $95 from $120, citing expectations for slowing sales ahead.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.