PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Tuesday, penalized by Home Depot forecasts which weigh on the entire retail sector, while uncertainty over the debt ceiling and mixed sales figures at the retail in the United States hardly encourages risk-taking.

In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 113.88 points, or 0.34%, to 33,234.72 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.20% to 4,127.67 points.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.13%, or 15.864 points, to 12,349.345.

An hour before the opening of Wall Street, the Commerce Department indicated that retail sales in the United States had rebounded in April by 0.4% over one month against a Reuters consensus of +0.8% and a drop 0.7% in March. While these data testify to the resistance of the American economy, they also fuel the prospect of continued monetary tightening, especially since excluding automobiles, fuels, building materials and catering services, retail sales have rebounded even more strongly, by 0.7% over one month, after a decline of 0.4% the previous month and a consensus of +0.3%.

Regarding the debt ceiling, a new meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. GMT between Democrats and Republicans at the White House.

“There is little chance that we will see a resolution of the issue of the American debt ceiling today,” predicted Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank.

“Negotiations will likely remain tense as Republicans seek deep spending cuts to agree to a debt ceiling adjustment, while Joe Biden is unwilling to compromise on spending ahead of an election year.” he.

According to statements prepared for an event in Washington, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, for her part, will tell a group of bankers on Tuesday that the impasse over the debt wall is already having disastrous consequences for the U.S. economy as it pushes up borrowing costs and increases the debt burden.

On the corporate earnings side, Home Depot fell 2.73% after lowering its forecast for annual sales and profit, due to a slowdown in demand in a context of high inflation. In its wake, distributors Walmart, Target, Macy’s and Lowe’s lost 0.85% to 2.75%.

In mergers and acquisitions, Horizon Therapeutics plunged 17.85%, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) being in the process of blocking the takeover of the group by Amgen (-0.88%), according to a source.

Capital One Financial jumped 5.58% after the announcement of a stake in Berkshire Hathaway (-0.21%), the company of billionaire Warren Buffett, in its capital.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)

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