- Stocks fell at the open Wednesday as big box retailers continued to report earnings.
- Target underwhelmed estimates in the second quarter citing excessive inventory leading to markdowns.
- Wall Street is awaiting forthcoming minutes from the central bank's July meeting.
US stocks edged lower Wednesday as Target missed on earnings while investor look ahead to the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting.
Shares of Target fell 2% as second-quarter earnings fell short of twice-lowered views amid efforts to unload excess inventory. The report came after rival Walmart beat forecasts on Tuesday. The Commerce Department's monthly retail sales report came in flat, below views for a 0.1% uptick.
Meanwhile, Wall Street will look for clues in the Fed minutes on whether the central bank could ease its tightening cycle.
Here's where US indexes stood as the market opened at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 4,280.82, down 0.57%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,002.20, down 0.44% (149.81 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,004.99, down 0.74%
Famed economist Nouriel Roubini thinks that investors expecting a Fed pivot next year are "delusional" in an interview with Bloomberg TV. He added that the pace of rising prices means that a pause in tightening is likely off the table.
Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs warned in a note Tuesday that Iran isn't likely to produce more oil if a nuclear deal is mutually agreed upon with the US and EU. Goldman elaborated that oil analysts may be getting ahead of themselves with too much optimism toward the repercussions of an agreement.
Meanwhile, new data from Vortexa showed that China increased purchases of US crude oil in July, reaching an 18-month high.
Oil climbed, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.63% to $87.08 a barrel at the start of the trading session. International benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.45% to $92.76.
Gold shed 0.18% to $1,772.14 an ounce. The 10-year yield climbed 5.3 basis-points to 2.877%.
Bitcoin fell 1.3% to $23,636,47
