Wall Street gains as weak retail sales data boosts hopes for Fed rate cut

Wall Street’s key stock benchmarks extended gains on Tuesday after a sharp rally in the previous session, as a weaker-than-estimated retail sales report reinforced the case for the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates this year.

At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57.6 points, or 0.11%, to 50193.49. The S&P 500 rose 9.7 points, or 0.14%, to 6974.49, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 32.6 points, or 0.14%, to 23271.224.

The United States saw an unanticipated stagnation in retail sales throughout December, indicating a more subdued pace of household expenditures as the calendar year concluded. Total retail transaction values, which do not account for inflationary adjustments, remained virtually stagnant following a robust 0.6% increase recorded in November.

Treasuries climbed following the weaker-than-estimated retail sales data. The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell 4 basis points to 4.16%.

The US dollar traded mostly lower against major currencies following the US data.

• Bitcoin fell 2% to $68,936.16.

Key Stock Movers

Coca-Cola stock fell 1.3% after the firm’s revenue growth for the December quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Warner Bros. Discovery shares surged 1.3% after Paramount said it upped its offer to buy the entertainment company.

Stocks of Paramount Skydance added 0.9%, while Netflix rose 2.2%.

S&P Global shares sank 8.5% after giving a forecast for profit in the upcoming year that fell short of expectations.

Hasbro stock jumped 6.6% after the toymaker’s quarterly profit and revenue beat analysts’ expectations.

DuPont shares rose 1% after the chemical giant reported better December quarter earnings.

Bullion Market

Gold prices were steady on Tuesday as unexpectedly flat US retail sales data raised hopes of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

By 09:38 a.m. ET (1438 GMT), spot gold was up 0.1% to $5,058.86 per ounce, after falling as low as $4,985.99 earlier in the session. US gold futures for April delivery added 0.1% to $5,084.10 per ounce.

Among other metals, spot silver fell 1.4% to $82.20 an ounce, after rallying around 7% in the previous session. Spot platinum lost 0.6% to $2,110.80 per ounce, while palladium fell 0.5% to $1,731.50.

Crude Oil

Crude oil prices were subdued on Tuesday as the market waited for direction from news on Iran, Russia, and US oil inventories data.

At 9:58 a.m. EST (1458 GMT), Brent futures rose 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $69.31 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 12 cents, or 0.2%, to $64.48.