CHICAGO (AFX) -- Retail stocks got off to a rough start to holiday-shortened week Tuesday, paced by losses in shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc.
The S&P Retail Index dropped 1.75% to end at 450.11, its lowest close since Feb. 7.
Wal-Mart , the heaviest issue in the weighted retail index, lost 2.7% to close at $48.33, wiping out all gains made Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, Wal-Mart said that same-stores sales were likely to rise 2.3% in May, the low end of its previous projected range of a 2% to 4% increase.
The world's largest retailer blamed a 'pronounced' paycheck cycle as many consumers struggled with higher prices for gas and utilities.
Home Depot fell 2.5% to $37.70. Fears of a consumer-spending slowdown, a long-running concern for the home-improvement retailer, flared up again after the Conference Board said consumer confidence index fell to 103.2 in May -- the lowest level since February.
In other areas of the sector, investors seemed to react, pushing down shares of specialty retailer Aerospostale 4.7% to $23.76 and Gap Inc. down 2.2% to $17.93.
Kohl's Corp. lost 2.2% to $52.93 and Federated Department Stores sank 1.6% to $70.99.
Target Corp. was off 17 cents to $48.68 and Best Buy Stores fell 2.1% to $50.79. This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see www.marketwatch.com.