Wall Street Flat as Home Improvement Retailers Get Amazoned
NEW YORK — Stocks ended little changed on Wall Street on Thursday as a deal between Sears
and Amazon weighed on home improvement retailers while gains in Microsoft helped buoy the Nasdaq.
Retailers and appliance makers fell after Sears said it would sell its Kenmore home appliances on Amazon
and integrate the brand’s smart gadgets with the online giant’s Alexa digital assistant.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.97 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 21,611.78, the S&P 500 lost 0.38 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,473.45
and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.96 points, or 0.08 percent, to 6,390.00.
Home Depot fell 4.1 percent, shaving off 40 points from the Dow and weighing the most on the S&P 500.
Earnings overall are very strong," said Anthony Conroy, president at Abel Noser in New York.
"It’s not going to make things any better, it just won’t make them worse,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago