US markets broke their three-day winning streak with the Nasdaq falling 0.7% on Tuesday, and both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 down 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
Signs of a mixed economic recovery continued after retail sales fell twice as much as expected, down 1.3% in May as stimulus cheques ran out. When car sales were excluded, the figure was a more reasonable 0.7% fall.
On the other hand, the producer price index, a measure of business inflation was 0.7% higher, excluding food and energy, yet inflation expectations remain muted.
Elsewhere, the UK and Australian governments announced an important free trade deal with hopes that it will assist businesses to overcome their growing reliance on China.
Oracle beats expectations
Shares in cloud computing solution provider Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) fell despite blowing away expectations, with sales hitting US$11.2 billion from US$10.4 billion.
Importantly, earnings were significantly better at US$1.54 per share, up from $US$1.20 in the prior year. Oracle shares finished the day 1.2% lower.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed on Tuesday.
- Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) up 2.7%
- Roblox (NYSE: RBLX) up 2.3%
- Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) down 3.0%
- Unity (NYSE: U) down 4.1%
- Fastly (NYSE: FSLY) down 5.1%
- Appian (NASDAQ: APPN) down 5.5%
- Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) down 6.9%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to edge lower when the market opens on Wednesday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.