- Consumer discretionary leads losses in early trade.
- Crude oil sell-off weighs on energy.
- Kudlow comments fail to help market sentiment improve.
After suffering heavy losses on Monday, major equity indexes in the U.S. started the second day of the week sharply lower. The European stocks are also posting large losses to reflect the weak appetite for risky assets on Tuesday. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.6% on the day at 24,623.40 points while the S&P 500 was losing 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.62% at 6,535.04 points.
Disappointing holiday season forecasts from big retailers on Tuesday weighed on the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index, which opened the day 2.2% lower. Additionally, a more than 2% fall seen in crude oil prices pulled the S&P 500 Energy Index lower at the opening. The only sector that was in the positive territory at the time of press was the defensive S&P 500 Utilities Index.
Meanwhile, Larry Kudlow, White House economic adviser and the director of the National Economic Council, said that President Trump was optimistic regarding trade negotiations between the U.S. and China and added that very detailed talks with Chinese officials were ongoing “on all levels.” Nevertheless, the trade-related S&P 500 Industrials failed to take advantage of these comments and was last seen down 1.7% on the day.
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