Wall Street sinks as bond yields rise, Walmart results disappoint
NEW YORK: The three main US equity indexes closed lower on Thursday as rising Treasury yields dented risk appetite while disappointing results from retail bellwether Walmart soured investors on the consumer sector and rallying oil prices fanned inflation worries.
<Wall Street Sinks as Bond Yields Rise, Walmart Results Disappoint>
The three main US equity indexes closed lower on Thursday, with rising Treasury yields dampening risk appetite. Walmart's disappointing results further soured investors on the consumer sector, while surging oil prices fueled inflation concerns. Walmart's shares dropped 9.2%, missing Wall Street expectations for quarterly sales as higher gasoline prices affected consumer spending.
This decline impacted the S&P 500 consumer staples and discretionary sectors, which were among the weakest in the benchmark's 11 major industry indexes. Rival retailers like Costco, Dollar Tree, and Albertsons also fell between 1% and 2.6%. Oil prices rising above US$87 amplified concerns about the US consumer's health, as noted by Mona Mahajan, head of investment strategy at Edward Jones.
Rising bond yields continued to pressure equities, despite a brief reversal in Treasury yields after the US Treasury Department announced plans to buy back bonds to lower their rates. Nonetheless, bond yields resumed their upward trend. On US exchanges, 9.61 billion shares traded, which was less than the 16.64 billion average over the past 20 sessions.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
