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Wall Street slumped overnight on fears of slowing Asian growth.
By the close the Dow Jones had slumped 163 points to 17349. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% to 2080 while the NASDAQ gave up 0.8% to 2019.
Investors have the additional concern following release of the minutes from the July meeting of the Federal Reserve’s policy makers.
Wall Street round-up
The US oil benchmark West Texas intermediate dropped 4.3% to settle at $40.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the U.S. Energy Administration reported an increase in crude oil stockpiles from last week.
Hardest hit of all was integrated oil giant Chevron (NYSE:CVX) down 2.9% as oil prices continue to decline while sector peer ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) down 1.9% was sharing space with Chevron in the dog-house.
Retail giant Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) separated the slumping oil giants down 1.3% after its profit warning on Tuesday.
Home improvements chain Lowe’s Cos (NYSE:LOW) defied the trend rising 1.9% to US$74.42 after a mixed set of results. Earnings came in short of expectations though sales growth surprised to the upside.
Elsewhere in the retail sector office equipment and consumables supplier Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) also came up shy of market forecasts with its second quarter earnings. The shares were flat at US$14.15.
Second-quarter sales were down 5% on a year earlier but were up an underlying 1% once the impact of store closures was removed.
Another retailer Target (NYSE:TGT) was up 0.5% at US$80.69 despite raising its earnings outlook for the year on the back of better-than-expected second quarter profits.
The company now expects earnings per share (EPS) for the year to be in the range of US$4.60 to US$4.75 10 cents higher at both ends than the previously indicated range.
US data storage giant Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) is to buy Dot Hill Systems Corp a supplier of hardware and software solutions in a deal worth US$694 million.
The disk drive maker’s shares retreated 4.7% to US$49.67.
Holdings () now once again an independent company having broken free of eBay shed 1.7% to US$37.34 after it acquired mobile payment start-up Modest.
The company’s technology makes it easier for merchants to make their products available for purchase within cell phone apps.
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