play video what the april us retail sales report means for inflation what the april us retail sales report means for inflation what the april us retail sales report means for inflation play video what the april us retail sales report means for inflation you may also like what the april us retail sales report means for inflation major stocks indexes fell on tuesday despite support from growth stocks shares of companies in most industries traded lower with debtceiling negotiations remaining at a standstill the sp 500 slipped 06 while the nasdaq composite edged 02 lower the dow industrials fell 336 points or 1 retailsales data released before the market opened showed americans modestly increased their spending in april but consumers are holding off on big purchases and spending more on experiences the shift among consumers hit home depot which reported a decline in firstquarter sales on tuesday the homeimprovement company cut its forecasts for the year sending shares 22 lower on the day and building yeartodate losses to 11 while home depot’s murky outlook weighed on overall market sentiment the sp 500’s two most dominant sectors this year—communication services and tech—finished the day in the green shares of googleparent alphabet rose 27 on tuesday lifting the nasdaq a securities filing late monday showed billionaire bill ackman’s hedge fund pershing square capital management built a billiondollar stake in the tech company during the first quarter the wide gap between stocks that are doing well—namely shares of technology or techoriented companies—and the broader market makes it hard to envision a sustained market rally according to terry sandven chief equity strategist at us bank wealth management “ultimately we’re in an environment of persistent inflation elevated interest rates and earnings being reset lower” said mr sandven “typically that’s not a good environment for equities” he added wall street is looking ahead to earnings from more bigbox retailers to get a gauge of americans’ spending habits with target and walmart both set to report results later this week meanwhile warnings around the debt ceiling grew louder further adding pressure to stocks treasury secretary janet yellen has said that the us could become unable to pay its bills as soon as june 1 if congress doesn’t first raise the federal borrowing limit she doubled down on the severity of a potential debtceiling mishap in tuesday remarks to community bankers congressional recesses are approaching potentially leading to both chambers being unavailable for negotiations at various points in late may “don’t let a congressional calendar scare you that things can’t get done” jason pride chief of investment strategy and research at glenmede an investment management company mr pride said that if the deadline approaches congress can call additional sessions or pass a last minute suspension like it did in 2011 even if the base assumption is for a deal to get done he said he expects market volatility to rise as we approach early june furthermore in the event of a clean debtceiling increase a deal which hampers fiscal spending could drag on growth thus crimping corporate profits and weighing on stocks the debt ceiling also has rattled the market for shortterm us government debt many investors are seeking to avoid treasury bills that mature around early june when the treasury could be unable to make some payments others are taking advantage of the higher rates on those securities expecting the government to get a deal done prices for treasurys fell following the retailsales print pushing yields higher the yield on the 10year treasury rose to 3548 from 3506 late monday the twoyear yield which is particularly sensitive to monetary policy expectations finished at 4072 from 4004 overseas markets were broadly lower the stoxx europe 600 slipped 04 and the shanghai composite lost 06 japan was an outlier—the nikkei 225 rose 07 and the tokyo stock exchange’s topix index hit its highest level since 1990