U.S. Stocks Open Lower as Economic Data From China Disappoints
2022.05.16 17:35
By Liz Moyer
Investing.com — U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday after economic data from China disappointed and investors brace for retail sales data and earnings from big retailers in the U.S.
At 9:58 AM ET, theDow Jones Industrial Average fell 175 points, or 0.5% while the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1%.
China’s economy was hit by Covid lockdowns, as shown in fresh data. April retail sales there fell 11.1% from a year ago, more than the expected 6.1%. Industrial production fell 2.9% from last year.
The Dow is lower for the seventh time in eight days. Goldman Sachs economists cut their outlook for U.S. GDP growth to 2.4% this year from their earlier forecast of 2.6%, citing tighter financial conditions.
Retail sales for April are due out from the government early Tuesday. Analysts are expecting a 0.9% gain from March as consumers keep spending despite a lack of government stimulus funds and higher prices for household goods. A slew of retail earnings are also on deck this week, starting with Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) on Tuesday and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) on Wednesday.
Spirit Airlines Inc (NYSE:SAVE) shares jumped 9.9% after JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ:JBLU) made a hostile $30 a share tender offer for the company. Spirit had already rebuffed an offer from JetBlue in favor of a takeover offer from Frontier Group Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ULCC).
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares fell 4% after Elon Musk told his followers on the social media platform that the company’s lawyers said he violated a nondisclosure agreement. Musk is in a $44 billion deal to buy the company, but wants to slow down until he can assess the number of spam accounts.
Oil was mixed. Crude Oil WTI Futures ticked higher by 0.1%, to $108.70 a barrel while Brent Oil Futures fell 0.1% to $111.44 a barrel. Gold Futures was flat at $1,807 an ounce.
