NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks retreated early Wednesday as markets digested solid earnings from large US banks and delayed retail sales data that topped expectations.
The early losses came on the heels of a down day Tuesday. Geopolitical tensions have been prominent in the early part of 2026 so far, with President Donald Trump threatening Iran over its response to civilian protests and the White House emphasizing its designs on taking over Greenland.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 percent at 49,101.30.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.7 percent to 6,917.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.0 percent to 23,466.05.
READ MORE: US stocks mixed after muted inflation data
US data showed retail sales rose by 0.6 percent in November to $735.9 billion on a month-on-month basis. The result topped estimates, but analysts said it is too old to significantly move the market.
“Maybe it’s just people still repositioning, trying to figure out what kind of cash they need to pay taxes and that kind of thing,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low.
“My sense is that we just don’t really have a narrative, a story yet,” Low said. “There just isn’t a whole lot of momentum in the market right now.”
Among large banks reporting results, Citigroup fell 1.2 percent while Bank of America dropped 3.6 percent and Wells Fargo lost 4.5 percent.
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