Investing.com - Wall Street fell on Thursday after retail sales dropped for the first time in 10 months in December, as economic activity in the U.S. slowed at the end of 2018 during the government shutdown.
The S&P 500 slipped 14 points, or 0.53%, as of 9:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT), while the Dow lost 82 points, or 0.32%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite decreased 27 points, or 0.38%.
U.S. retail sales tumbled 1.2%, compared to forecasts for a gain of 0.1%, the Commerce Department reported. Retail sales could continue to slow in 2019 as American consumers worry over domestic tensions, a slowing global economy and trade concerns between the U.S. and China.
The disappointing retail numbers offset U.S.-China trade optimism. U.S. President Donald Trump said the negotiations were going very well, while Bloomberg reported that he was considering pushing back the March 1 deadline for higher tariffs by 60 days.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) slumped 7% after it said it expected earnings to be flat in 2019, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) dipped 1.4% and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) fell 2.5%.
Technology stocks were mixed, with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) decreasing 0.9%, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) slipped 0.2%.
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) rose 4% after its earnings beat estimates, while Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) inched up 0.3% ahead of its financial results after the close. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) gained 1.2%.
In commodities, gold futures slipped 0.12% to $1,313.45 a troy ounce, while crude oil pared back earlier gains, falling 1% to $53.34 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched down 0.07% to 96.87.