U.S. market indexes opened lower Wednesday and traded down all day as retail earnings reports depressed valuations and investors continued to await further economic direction. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost -216.82 points or -1.21 points to close at 17,711.53. The S&P 500 was also down, closing at 2,064.48 for a loss of -19.91 points or -0.96 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 4,760.69 for a loss of -49.19 points or -1.02 percent.

Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Wednesday’s Market Movers

Disney reported earnings on Tuesday after the closing bell which impacted the market Wednesday. Disney’s second quarter earnings missed analysts’ expectations for both revenue and earnings. Revenue was $12.97 billion, up 4.1 percent from the comparable quarter and missing analysts’ expectations by $220 million. Earnings per share of $1.36 missed analysts’ expectations by $0.04. On Wednesday shares fell -4.31 points or -4.04 percent to $102.29.

On Wednesday Macy’s also reported earnings. Revenue was down -7.4 percent from the comparable quarter at $5.77 billion, missing analysts’ expectations by $180 million. Earnings per share were $0.40, beating estimates by $0.04. The stock fell -5.62 points or -15.18 percent to close for the day at $31.38.

Staples was also in the news Wednesday as its merger talks ended with Office Depot. The stock fell -1.90 points or -18.34 percent to close at $8.46.

On Friday the market will get the retail sales report and retail sales are expected to have increased 0.9 percent from the previous month which is an improvement from the previous month’s -0.3%. Auto sales are expected to show significant improvement with a gain of 0.4% after the previous month’s gain of 0.1%. It is likely that retail sales will fall below consensus given the recent reports from department stores and the lower outlook for the industry overall.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average only Microsoft was higher in trading for the day and the top five losers were:

Walt Disney Co  -4.04 percent

Nike Inc B            -3.7 percent

Wal-Mart Stores Inc        -2.75 percent

The Home Depot Inc       -2.33 percent

Visa Inc Class A  -2.23 percent

Top sectors for the broad market were utilities and energy. Stock sectors falling were healthcare and consumer discretionary.

The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 4,760.69 for a loss of -49.19 points or -1.02 percent. In the technology sector the top losers in the Nasdaq 100 were the following:

Endo International PLC  -12.69

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc          -6.12

Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc       -5.89

In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 1.14 points or 0.94 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.42 points or -0.45 percent to close at 93.84.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 followed the day’s trend lower closing at 1,114.73 for a loss of -14.10 points or -1.25 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 684.85 for a loss of -8.47 points or -1.22 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 6,827.79 for a loss of -94.38 points or -1.36 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM closed at 8,150.81 for a loss of -70.87 points or -0.86 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1,455.07 for a loss of -14.66 points or -1.00 percent; the Russell 3000 which closed at 1,214.51 for a loss of -12.00 points or -0.98 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 587.68 for a loss of -2.94 points or -0.50 percent.