US retail sales weaken, driving further Dow losses
|A second day of losses for the Dow comes as investors watch some worrying weakness in retail sales, says Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.
Stocks turn lower again
“Markets are quite happy to see inflation weaken, but the sight of weaker US retail sales is certainly not music to their ears. With earnings season only just hitting its stride, such weakness in economic data bodes poorly for corporate results, at least in coming quarters. In addition, comments from Fed member Bullard suggest that we haven’t quite seen the death of the 50bps rate hike, and that it might be better to err on the side of caution.”
Slowing inflation still offers best hope of a rally
“Stocks continue to wonder where the next driver of a bounce comes from. For the moment it seems that investors are going to remain fixated on inflation. But with allocations to US stocks at two-decade lows there is the chance of at least a first-half rebound if earnings are overall better than expected. But with the Nasdaq struggling in recent days it seems investors need a lot more convincing.”
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