The US markets wiped out initial gains and ended lower on Friday. The initial strength on Wall Street came after the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected increase in retail sales in the month of June. The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.6 percent in June after plunging by a revised 1.7 percent in May. The rebound surprised market participants, who had expected retail sales to fall by 0.4 percent compared to the 1.3 percent slump originally reported for the previous month. Excluding a steep drop in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales jumped by an even stronger 1.3 percent in June following a revised 0.9 percent decrease in May. Street had been expecting ex-auto sales to increase by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.7 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.
However, stocks came under pressure after a separate report from the University of Michigan showed an unexpected slump in consumer sentiment amid concerns about inflation. The report showed the consumer sentiment index slid to 80.8 in July from 85.5 in June. The decrease surprised market participants, who had expected the index to inch up to 86.5. Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin said rather than job creation, halting and reversing an accelerating inflation rate has now become a top concern, and noted that inflation has put added pressure on living standards and caused postponement of large discretionary purchases.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 299.17 points or 0.86 percent to 34,687.85, Nasdaq lost 115.90 points or 0.80 percent to 14,427.24 and S&P 500 was down by 32.87 points or 0.75 percent to 4,327.16.
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