US: Stocks little changed as retail sales fall

Published Tue, Jul 14, 2015 · 02:06 PM

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks opened little changed on Tuesday following a drop in US retail sales and mixed earnings from banks.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,966.19, down 11.49 points (0.06 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 was essentially flat at 2,099.68, up 0.08 point, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 6.61 (0.13 per cent) at 5,078.12.

US retail sales fell 0.3 per cent in June as consumers pulled back spending in a broad array of areas, including auto purchases, the Commerce Department reported.

The department also trimmed its estimate for the May gain to 1.0 per cent from 1.2 per cent.

JPMorgan Chase climbed 0.6 per cent after second-quarter earnings rose 5.2 per cent to US$6.3 billion. Wells Fargo advanced 0.1 per cent on flat earnings of US$5.7 billion.