U.S. Stocks Remain Firmly Negative In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks remain firmly negative in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The major averages have all moved to the downside, with the Dow and the S&P 500 pulling back off yesterday's record closing highs.

In recent trading, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 340.39 points or 1 percent at 35,285.01, the Nasdaq is down 190.74 points or 1.3 percent at 14,603.02 and the S&P 500 is down 40.99 points or 0.9 percent at 4,438.72.

The weakness on Wall Street comes after the Commerce Department released a report showing U.S. retail sales tumbled by much more than expected in the month of July.

The report said retail sales slumped by 1.1 percent in July after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in June.

Economists had expected retail sales to dip by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding a steep drop in sales by motor vehicles and parts dealers, retail sales fell by 0.4 percent in July after jumping by 1.6 percent in June. Ex-auto sales were expected to inch up by 0.1 percent.

A steep drop by shares of Home Depot (HD) is also weighing on the markets, with the home improvement retailer plunging by 4.5 percent after reporting second quarter earnings that beat estimates but weaker than expected same-store sales growth.

On the other hand, retail giant Wal-Mart (WMT) has moved to the upside reporting better than expected second quarter results and raising its full-year guidance.

Sector News

Steel stocks continue to see substantial weakness in mid-day trading, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 3.1 percent.

Significant weakness has also emerged among airline stocks, resulting in a 3 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Housing stocks also continue to see considerable weakness on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index slumping by 2.8 percent.

The sell-off by housing stocks comes after the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing homebuilder confidence fell to its lowest level in a year in August.

Semiconductor, retail and oil service stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside on the day, reflecting broad based selling pressure.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged by 2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 1.262 percent.