Wall Street headed lower early Wednesday, the Associated Press reports, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.5% before the bell and the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding 0.8%. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq also dropped 0.5%.
Major U.S. retailer Target reported that sales fell more than expected in the first quarter and warned that they may continue to slip this year as consumers, worried about tariffs, pull back on spending.
Target said it now expects a low-single digit decline in sales for 2025 and adjusted earnings per share to be anywhere from $7 to $9. That’s down from a March forecast of $8.80 and $9.80 per share.
A growing number of companies have recently said tariffs and uncertainty about the economy are making it difficult to guess what the upcoming year will bring. Others, including Walmart, have said they’ll have to raise prices to offset the widespread import taxes imposed by President Donald Trump.
On the winning side Wednesday was the hardware store chain Lowe’s, which hit Wall Street’s sales and profit targets and kept its forecast for the year unchanged.
Oil prices rose close to 1% after CNN reported that unnamed intelligence officials said Israel may be preparing for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Oil prices tend to rise with conflicts that might disrupt oil supplies.
U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 50 cents to $62.53 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, rose 48 cents to $65.86 per barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 143.81 Japanese yen from 144.51 yen.
