DOW Jones up 140 points on retail spending figures and Wallmart price hike warning

Stocks inched higher today, despite concerns over lower retail spending and escalating retail prices.

U.S. stocks edged up on Thursday, May 15, even amid negative retail indicators. The Dow Jones was trading at 42,191, up 140 points or 0.33%. The S&P 500 rose 18.75 points, or 0.32%, to 5,911. Meanwhile, the tech-focused Nasdaq was nearly flat at 19,140 points, down just 8 points or 0.04%.

Stocks were weighed by retail sales figures released on the same day. Notably, growth in retail sales slowed dramatically in April. Sales saw gains of just 0.1% compared to March’s upwardly revised 1.7%. This was despite the fact that consumers likely tried to spend ahead, on fears of post-tariff price hikes.

Walmart warns about impending ‘double-digit’ price increases

Adding to inflation concerns, Walmart CFO John David Rainey warned that the retail giant may be forced to implement double-digit price increases on some items. As a result, shares of Walmart—typically viewed as a defensive stock in inflationary environments, fell 1.05%.

Among other major firms, UnitedHealthcare continued its decline, losing 13.74% after reports revealed a potential criminal investigation against the company for potential Medicare fraud. Notably, just a day before this revelation, the company’s CEO, Andrew Witty, abruptly stepped down from his position.

One of the new entrants on the S&P 500, Coinbase, faced its own upheaval. The stock was down 6.58% after CEO Brian Armstrong revealed a $20 million ransom note against the exchange. Still, the likelier explanation for the stock drop in its stock price is a recent SEC investigation against it.

The SEC probe is about whether the exchange reported accurate numbers when it claimed it had more than 100 million verified users. The figure is significant, as the exchange featured it in its 2021 IPO filing, directed at potential investors.