Wall Street Opens Flat After Weak Retail Sales; Fed Eyed; Dow Down 55 Pts

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened little changed on Wednesday with few willing to take any action ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy statement and press conference later in the day. 

The Fed is overwhelmingly expected to announce a shorter phase-out of its pandemic-era bond purchases, cutting them from $120 billion a month to zero in as little as three or four months.  That would clear the way for a first interest rate rise by the middle of the year, if inflation - currently running at its highest in nearly 40 years - fails to abate.

By 9:35 AM ET (1435 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 55 points, or 0.2% at 35,489 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both essentially unchanged. All three indices had fallen on Tuesday after stronger-than-expected producer price inflation data had reinforced expectations of a faster withdrawal of support by the Fed. 

Earlier, there were indications that the effects of the fiscal stimulus that sustained household consumption through the pandemic are also starting to fade. Retail sales rose by a disappointing 0.3% in November, well below the 0.8% expected, and core retail sales were similarly weak, also rising only 0.3%. 

"Persistent supply shortages and elevated prices tempered consumers’ willingness and ability to spend on goods," said Oxford Economics' Greg Daco in a note to clients, adding that "renewed health concerns limited spending at restaurants and bars."

Social media companies suffered as the retail sales figures were taken as an omen for the strength of the advertising market. Pinterest Inc (NYSE:PINS) stock fell 3.9% to a 15-month low while Snap (NYSE:SNAP) stock fell 5.7% to its lowest in 13 months.  The more profitable Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB), owner of Facebook, and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) suffered smaller declines.

Among the few big movers was Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) stock, which fell 7.4% after the International Trade Commission banned the import of its devices into the U.S. in response to an intellectual property lawsuit from Universal Electronics (NASDAQ:UEIC). That put the maker of streaming devices on course to test a 13-month low. An early winner from a pandemic that accelerated the secular trend toward streaming, Roku is now down some 60% from its peak in July. Universal Electronics stock, meanwhile, rose over 7% on the prospects for a favorable settlement with Roku.

Also falling sharply was Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) stock. The videogame hosting company fell another 8.7% to its lowest in over a month, despite posting a respectable 35% gain in active users in November. The stock has been a favorite play of those betting on the development of the so-called metaverse since it listed earlier in the year. It's now down over 30% from its peak but still up handily from when it went public through a direct listing in March.

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Elsewhere, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) stock fell 6.1% after the Food and Drug Administration warned it about concerns surrounding its diabetes business, while Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) stock rose 6.8% to its highest in over a month after raising its full-year earnings guidance.