US stock market tanks amid weak retail, Powell comments

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indexes in the US stock market tanked Tuesday amid weak retail data and comments by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones was down 282, or 0.8%, to close at 35,343 and the S&P 500 lost 31, or 0.71%, to 4,448.

The Nasdaq plummeted 137 points, or 0.93%, to end the day at 14,656.

Major retailer Target saw shares decline 3.2%, while home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe's dived 4.3% and 5.8%, respectively.

The sudden decline came amid weak retail sales which fell 1.1% in July from the previous month, much more than the market estimate of a 0.3% decline, according to the Commerce Department.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is in process of fully putting away its emergency tools, which is viewed as a hint the bank would soon begin unrolling its $120 billion monthly asset purchase program.

The VIX volatility index, also dubbed the fear index, was up for the second day in a row, rising 10.2% to 17.76.

While the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes added 0.64% to 1.265%, the dollar index was up 0.54% to 93.13, climbing above the critical level of 93 once again.

Precious metals turned lower as gold fell 0.13% to $1,785 per ounce and silver lost 0.8% to $23.64.

Oil prices also dived into negative territory with Brent crude down 0.5% to $69.19 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate sliding 0.8% to $66.52.