US stock market tanks amid weak retail, Powell comments

ANKARA

Major indexes in the US stock market tanked Tuesday amid weak retail data and comments by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones was down 282, or 0.8%, to close at 35,343 and the S&P 500 lost 31, or 0.71%, to 4,448.

The Nasdaq plummeted 137 points, or 0.93%, to end the day at 14,656.

Major retailer Target saw shares decline 3.2%, while home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe's dived 4.3% and 5.8%, respectively.

The sudden decline came amid weak retail sales which fell 1.1% in July from the previous month, much more than the market estimate of a 0.3% decline, according to the Commerce Department.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is in process of fully putting away its emergency tools, which is viewed as a hint the bank would soon begin unrolling its $120 billion monthly asset purchase program.

The VIX volatility index, also dubbed the fear index, was up for the second day in a row, rising 10.2% to 17.76.

While the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes added 0.64% to 1.265%, the dollar index was up 0.54% to 93.13, climbing above the critical level of 93 once again.

Precious metals turned lower as gold fell 0.13% to $1,785 per ounce and silver lost 0.8% to $23.64.

Oil prices also dived into negative territory with Brent crude down 0.5% to $69.19 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate sliding 0.8% to $66.52.