US stocks dip despite strong Home Depot earnings

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks opened lower Tuesday, giving back some of the prior day's gains, as Home Depot shares dipped despite better-than-expected earnings.

The home-improvement retailer raised its full-year forecast after reporting a 14.2 per cent jump in first-quarter earnings to US$1.8 billion. The results were the latest to show strong consumer spending for housing-related items even as US shoppers show restraint in other areas such as apparel.

Shares of Home Depot, a Dow component, fell 1.3 per cent. The decline reflects that the retailer's "good news has already been priced into the stock," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,681.19, down 0.2 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.1 per cent at 2,064.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed less than 0.1 per cent at 4,774.51.

AFP