Stock Market Live May 21: S&P 500 (VOO) Falling on Mixed Retail News

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The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) opened down 0.6% on Wednesday as big box retailers, especially vulnerable to global tariffs turmoil, continued reporting mixed results.

S&P 500 index component Home Depot (NYSE: HD) yesterday reported better than expected sales numbers, but worse than expected earnings. Today, it was archrival and fellow S&P 500 component Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) turn to (not) shine. The home improvement retailer beat on earnings with a $2.92 per share profit, but its sales of $20.9 billion came in just shy of expectations.

Target (NYSE: TGT) added to the turmoil when it reported top and bottom line misses this morning. Also an index component, Target ‘s $23.85 billion in sales and $1.30 per share in adjusted earnings both fell short of what analysts forecast.

Adding to investor worries, Target cut its sales forecast for the rest of this year, blaming weak consumer spending and uncertainty created by a changing national tariffs policy.

Other earnings

In happier earnings news, Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW) beat on both top and bottom lines last night. Earnings of $0.80 per share were about 4% better than expected, and sales of $2.3 billion edged out consensus expectations.

The bad news is that Palo Alto Networks is also an S&P 500 component, and despite its earnings beat, investors are selling off the stock (now down 7.5%), which is pulling the index lower.

Analyst Calls

S&P component Autozone (NYSE: AZO) won an upgrade to buy from Bank of America Securities this morning. Tax refunds are putting more money in consumer pockets, said the analyst. Not enough money to let them afford to buy a car, necessarily, but BofA thinks rising prices on both new and used cars is going to encourage consumers to keep their current cars longer, and spend more on car parts to keep them running.

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