U.S. retail sales, Home Depot, China and Russia rate calls - what's moving markets
Investing.com — Wall Street heads lower ahead of the release of key retail sales data as well as results from home improvement retailer Home Depot. China cuts interest rates to help its economic recovery, Russia hikes to support the ruble, while Japan’s economy bounces back to life.
U.S. futures retreated Tuesday, ahead of the release of key retail sales data and quarterly earnings from a host of retail giants.
At 05:05 ET (09:05 GMT), the Dow futures contract had dropped 170 points or 0.5%, S&P 500 futures fell 20 points or 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures retreated 60 points or 0.4%.
The largest U.S. retailers are set to report their results this week, which will give investors an important insight into the health of consumer spending, a major driver of the U.S. economy.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) starts the ball rolling later, while Target (NYSE:TGT) will deliver results before Wednesday’s market open, followed a day later by Walmart (NYSE:WMT). Other major retailers such as Macy’s (NYSE:M), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN), Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS), and Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) will report in the coming weeks.
Sentiment among global investors improved in August to its least bearish since February 2022, a Bank of America survey showed on Tuesday.
That said, confidence may be hit by the news that Russia's central bank hiked its key interest rate by 350 basis points to 12% earlier in the session, an emergency rate move to try and halt the ruble's weakening.
The U.S. is to release July retail sales data later in the session, which is expected to show a pickup in demand at the start of the third quarter after a smaller-than-expected increase in June.
Analysts are looking for an increase of 1.5% from the same time last year and 0.4% from the prior month.
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