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* Home Depot, Kohl's drop on full-year forecast cuts
* Other retail stocks battered
* Broadcom up after Morgan Stanley upgrade
* AT&T slips on brokerage rating cut
* Indexes: Dow down 0.23%, S&P off 0.08%, Nasdaq up 0.13%
(Updates to open, changes comment)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 19 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial
Average retreated after touching record highs on Tuesday, hit by
dour forecasts from retailers Home Depot and Kohl's.
Shares of the largest U.S. home improvement chain HD.N
fell 5.3% and were the top drag on the two main indexes after
the company cut its 2019 sales forecast for the second time this
year as its online push was not delivering as expected.
Also souring the mood was Kohl's Corp KSS.N , which slumped
17.8% as the department store operator slashed its annual profit
forecast after falling short of quarterly comparable sales and
earnings estimates. Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with the
consumer discretionary index's .SPLRCD 1% drop weighing the
most.
Other retail stocks also fell on the news, driving the S&P
500 retail index .SPXRT down 1.2%. Investors await reports
from Lowe's Cos Inc LOW.N , Target Corp TGT.N and Nordstrom
Inc JWN.N among others this week.
"At the moment the consumer sentiment is still strong but
that doesn't mean it is going to reflect in every retailer's
earnings," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and
derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.
The three main U.S. stock indexes had opened higher on
continued optimism that Washington and Beijing would agree on a
deal to end a damaging trade war.
"Markets have probably risen a little too far ... so it is
no surprise that we are seeing some pause here," Frederick
added.
Expectations of a trade deal as well as a largely
better-than-expected third-quarter corporate earnings season has
also fuelled a Wall Street rally over the past few weeks, with
the S&P 500 setting new records almost every day.
At 10:30 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 64.44 points, or 0.23%, at 27,971.78, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 2.46 points, or 0.08%, at 3,119.57 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 11.13 points, or 0.13%, at 8,561.07.
Also on the agenda this week are minutes from the Federal
Reserve's latest policy meeting, where it cut interest rates for
the third time this year, and data on U.S. manufacturing and
services sectors.
Among other stocks, AT&T Inc T.N slipped 2.6% after
MoffettNathanson downgraded the U.S. wireless carrier's stock to
"sell" from "neutral". However, shares of Broadcom Inc AVGO.O rose 3% after
Morgan Stanley upgraded the chipmaker's stock to "overweight"
from "equal-weight". Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.05-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a
1.49-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 30 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 66 new highs and 69 new lows.