US stocks soar on retailers’ optimism about shopping season

Consumer stocks drive the S&P 500 and Dow Jones this Tuesday (16), with the Walmart anticipating a strong buying season quarter and monthly retail sales topping expectations, while losses in major tech stocks limited gains on the Nasdaq.

Data showed that retail sales of USA rose in October, with Americans apparently starting their holiday shopping earlier to avoid empty shelves amid supply chain concerns, which gave the economy a boost early in the fourth quarter.

The non-essential consumer sector of the S&P rose 0.9%, being among the best performers for the day.

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer with physical operations, raised its annual sales and profit forecasts. But its shares were down 1.9% amid supply chain problems that hurt its third-quarter margins.

Retailer Home Depot jumped 4% to a record high after its same-store sales beat quarterly estimates.

“It’s pretty clear that inflation isn’t hurting consumers … this could serve as a vote of confidence, signaling that the economy is still recovering well,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*TRADE Financial.

Positive retail data helped investors brush aside comments from James Bullard, member of Federal Reserve, which called for a more “hawkish” stance (inclined to less expansionary monetary conditions) by the US central bank in response to rising inflation.

At 13:37, Brasília time, the Dow Jones index rose 0.57%, to 36,292 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.523405%, to 4707 points. The Nasdaq technology index advanced 0.61% to 15,951 points.

Nvidia was down 0.4% after the United Kingdom order an investigation into the chipmaker’s planned acquisition of Arm for more than $50 billion.