Stocks Fall a Fifth Straight Day on Walmart Miss, Jobless Claims
Walmart shopping carts at the company's store in San Leandro, California.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergUS stocks closed out their fifth straight day of losses, the longest slide since the turn of the year, after retail bellwether Walmart Inc. posted a rare profit miss, jobless claims ticked higher and a Federal Reserve official downplayed the need for a near-term interest-rate cut.
The S&P 500 Index sank 0.4% on Thursday, led by the consumer staples and utilities sectors. Shares of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, dropped 4.5% after profits fell short of expectations for the first time in three years. The Nasdaq 100 Index declined 0.5%, while the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Index retreated 0.3%.