Dow briefly hits record high as Home Depot puts focus on retail earnings

By Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy

(Reuters) -The blue-chip Dow briefly hit a record high on Tuesday, aided by a rise in Home Depot (NYSE:HD)’s shares after the retailer kept its annual forecasts intact, while caution dominated the overall mood ahead of a Federal Reserve conference later in the week.

The Nasdaq slid more than 1% to its lowest in a week as megacaps Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) lost 2.1% and 1.4%, having rallied for much of the year.

Home Depot rose 4.6% despite missing quarterly results estimates, while rival home-improvement chain Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) gained 1.9%.

Earnings from Lowe’s and big-box retailers Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target later this week are now in focus as investors await more insight on the health of the American consumer.

"Consumers are still not really spending at full speed ahead, they’re a little bit cautious," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

"They’re waiting to see the full results of the tariffs impact on the upcoming holidays sales in a couple of months from now."

On the policy front, remarks from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman are due later in the day.

Bowman, who is under consideration for the central bank’s top job when Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends next year, has voiced support for at least three interest rate cuts this year, in line with President Donald Trump’s calls for lower borrowing costs.

Interest rate futures point to a total of two rate cuts this year worth 25 basis points each, with the first expected in September, according to data compiled by LSEG.

At 11:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47.86 points, or 0.11%, to 44,959.68, the S&P 500 lost 21.89 points, or 0.34%, to 6,427.26 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 216.62 points, or 1.01%, to 21,413.16.

Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors edged up. Real estate led with a 1.2% rise, helped by better-than-expected housing data.

On the other hand, technology and communications services lost over 1.2% each.

Wall Street’s main indexes have rebounded from April lows, when trade uncertainty stuck global markets, and have picked up steam on the back of strong corporate earnings and rate-cut expectations.

The key event this week is the Fed’s annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from Aug. 21-23, where Powell’s comments will be scrutinized for any clues on the central bank’s outlook on the economy and monetary policy.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) jumped 7.4% to hit its highest since February after the chipmaker got a $2 billion capital injection from Japan’s SoftBank (TYO:9984) Group.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) surged 4.2% after the cybersecurity company forecast fiscal 2026 revenue and profit above estimates.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) lost 3.8%. The company said it would add two new directors to its board after Elliott Investment Management took a large stake in the medical-device maker.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.31-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.51-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 46 new lows.