Wall Street drifted lower early today in a holiday-shortened week with some high-profile retailers reporting quarterly results, according to the Associated Press. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each slipped 0.3% before the opening bell.
Markets are coming off just their second losing week out of the last 16 after hotter-than-expected inflation reports dampened hopes that the Federal Reserve would begin cutting interest rates early this year.
Walmart posted another strong quarter of sales and profit, sending its shares up 2.7% before markets opened.
Hardware and building supply retailer Home Depot slipped about 2% after it gave a lukewarm forecast for the year, as high interest rates have cooled the homebuying market.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 150.16 Japanese yen from 150.10 yen.
