S&P 500, Nasdaq end 5-session winning streaks

NEW YORK: US stocks retreated on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapping five-session winning streaks as retailers declined after some disappointing outlooks and as technology shares fell.

Indices stayed lower after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed officials agreed to take a cautious approach to raising US interest rates going forward.

US central bank officials also said they would only raise interest rates if progress in controlling inflation faltered, according to minutes from the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 meeting.

Stocks had been rallying in recent sessions largely on the view that the Fed may be done hiking rates.

“We’ve had a big move,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

“The absence of anything to further drive the market higher today is kind of leading to underwhelming price action and some slight profit-taking,” he said, ahead of quarterly results and guidance from Nvidia after the closing bell.

Shares of Nvidia, considered a leader in artificial intelligence chips, ended the regular session down 0.9%, and an index of semiconductors fell 1.9%.

Nvidia’s shares were down about 2% after the closing bell following the company’s quarterly report and guidance.

During the regular session, shares of Lowe’s Cos fell 3.1% after the home improvement chain projected a bigger drop in annual comparable sales than previously expected and trimmed its profit forecast for the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.75 points, or 0.18%, to 35,088.29, the S&P 500 lost 9.19 points, or 0.20%, to 4,538.19 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 84.55 points, or 0.59%, to 14,199.98.

The S&P 500 retail index was down 1.2% on the day.

Best Buy shares slipped 0.7% after the electronics retailer said it expects a steeper drop in annual comparable sales.

Kohl’s Corp shares dropped 8.6% after the company missed third-quarter sales estimates.

Volume on US exchanges was 9.40 billion shares, compared with the 10.93 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.76-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.29-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 30 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 56 new highs and 125 new lows. — Reuters