Investing.com - Wall Street fell on Tuesday as disappointing results from Home Depot weighed and housing starts fell to their lowest level since September 2016.
The S&P 500 fell 5 points, or 0.18%, as of 9:33 AM ET (14:33 GMT), while the Dow lost 108 points, or 0.42%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite decreased 22 points, or 0.30%.
Home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE:HD) fell 3.5% after its earnings were lower than forecast, as a weak real estate sector dragged on the company's numbers. Housing starts fell to a two-year low in December as greater uncertainty over the economic outlook in the U.S. caused a sharp decline in investment.
Meanwhile, investors will also listen it to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony in the Senate today for clues on the central bank’s cautious approach to interest rate hikes.
"A cautious mood develops ahead of Powell's testimony on monetary policy to the U.S. Senate Committee, as he will be drilled during the Q&A session," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, said in a client note.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slipped 3% after the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a federal judge to hold CEO Elon Musk in contempt for a tweet the SEC alleges violates a settlement he made with the agency.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) declined 1%, while Boeing (NYSE:BA) slipped 0.5% and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) lost 0.6%.
Elsewhere, Macy’s (NYSE:M) rose 0.8% after its earnings were better than expected, while Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) increased 0.4%.
In commodities, gold futures slipped 0.06% to $1,328.75 a troy ounce, while crude oil fell 0.58% to $55.80 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.10% to 96.17.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.