Home Depot backs outlook as U.S. sales ticked up: Morning Buzz

Stocks are lower at midday, putting in jeopardy the six-day winning streak for the S&P 500. Federal Reserve officials’ commentary is anticipated to provide insights into the central bank’s outlook on inflation and interest rates, while markets continue digesting the implications of Moody’s recent downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating, which has heightened concerns about the nation’s fiscal health as lawmakers debate President Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill.

Looking ahead, investors are awaiting earnings reports from major retailers such as Target, Lowe’s, and TJX, which are expected to provide further insights into consumer spending trends amid ongoing tariff impacts following this morning’s report from Home Depot and last week’s quarterly update from Walmart.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists. 

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Home Depot (HD) maintained its guidance for the fiscal year after comparable sales in the U.S. increased 0.2% in Q1
• Intel (INTC) has considered divesting its network and edge businesses as the company looks to cut parts of the company its new CEO does not see as crucial, Reuters reports
• Pfizer (PFE) said it would license an experimental cancer treatment from China’s 3SBio
• Levi Strauss (LEVI) announced a deal to sell the Dockers brand to Authentic Brands Group
• Amer Sports (AS), the maker of Wilson tennis rackets and Salomon ski boots, boosted its adjusted profit forecast for the full year

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Air Lease (AL) upgraded at Citi, here’s why
• Asana (ASAN) downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley
• HP Enterprise (HPE) upgraded to Outperform at Evercore ISI
• Loop downgraded MongoDB (MDB) on “lackluster” Atlas adoption
• AES Corp. (AES) downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• The DOJ has opened a probe into a recent breach at Coinbase (COIN), involving criminals bribing employees and contractors in India to obtain client data, Bloomberg says
• An internal Google (GOOGL) document reveals that the company considered giving publishers more control over how their content is used to train AI models, but ultimately chose not to, Bloomberg reports
• Nintendo (NTDOY) is partnering with Samsung (SSNLF) to produce the main chips for the Switch 2, which may help Nintendo sell more than 20 million units by March next year, Bloomberg says
• Builder.ai, a U.K. technology start-up backed by Microsoft (MSFT), is entering bankruptcy proceedings after admitting “problems” under its past leadership and restating its revenues, FT reports
• General Motors (GM) has halted exports of a small number of U.S.-made vehicles to China as a result of tariffs, NY Post says

4. MOVERS:

• D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) gains after announcing the availability of Advantage2 quantum computing system
• Amer Sports (AS) higher in New York after reporting quarterly results
• Atai Life Sciences (ATAI) increases in New York after announcing data from Part 2 of its Phase 2a study of BPL-003
• IHS Holding (IHS) falls in New York after reporting quarterly results
• ASP Isotopes (ASPI) lower after entering an agreement related to a potential acquisition of Renergen

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Viking Holdings (VIK) reported Q1 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Hovnanian (HOV) reported Q2 results, with EPS and revenue lower year-over-year
• Trip.com (TCOM) reported Q1 results, with CEO Jane Sun commenting, “The travel industry maintained strong momentum in the first quarter of 2025, supported by resilient consumer demand and favorable travel policies”
• Bilibili (BILI) reported Q1 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• nCino (NCNO) reported preliminary Q1 results, with financial results expected to exceed the top end of its guidance

INDEXES: 

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.24%, or 103.03, to 42,689.04, the Nasdaq was down 0.45%, or 87.41, to 19,128.05, and the S&P 500 was down 0.36%, or 21.50, to 5,942.10.