US stock market opens mixed after weak retail data

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The Dow Jones and S&P 500 opened flat on Tuesday after record highs in the previous session, while Nasdaq started to climb, despite weak retail sales data.

The blue-chip Dow Jones was down 47 points to 32,906 and the S&P 500 added 3 to 3,972 at 9.36 a.m. EDT (1336GMT).

The Nasdaq jumped to 13,542 after adding 82 points with Airbnb adding 2%, while Facebook, Twitter and Google's parent, Alphabet, each gaining more than 1%.

Despite a two-month rally, the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was down 0.5% to 1.599% for a second consecutive day, easing investors' fear amid inflation, which triggered a 0.9% decline in the VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, to 19.85.

Retail sales were much lower than expected, falling 3% in February from the previous month because of severe winter conditions last month, according to figures released by the Census Bureau.

While analysts expected a 0.5% decline, the change for January was revised up from an increase of 5.3% to 7.6% with investors' strong expectation about President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief bill passing Congress that provides $1,400 direct checks to most individuals.

Most of the decline in retail sales came from department stores that saw a 8.4% decrease, followed by sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores falling 7.5%.