Home Depot declines with disappointing earnings; Medtronic shares jump

Shares of a major home improvement retailer lost ground after failing to meet quarterly earnings expectations, suggesting homeowners are putting off remodeling projects amid economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, strong demand and proceeds helped deliver a strong earnings report for the medical device company, sending its shares higher.

Major US stock indexes fell for the second day in a row ahead of several high-profile earnings reports and the release of delayed jobs data scheduled for later this week. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%, the Dow Jones fell 1.1%, and the Nasdaq lost 1.2%. Click here for more reports from Investopedia On Tuesday’s market movements.

Home Depot (HD) stock fell 6% to record the worst performance in the S&P 500 after the home improvement retailer missed expectations with third-quarter earnings, noting that the lack of storms during the period weighed on its performance. The company also lowered its full-year earnings forecast, citing persistent headwinds in the housing market and suggesting that homeowners are pulling back on remodeling projects amid broader economic uncertainty.

Concerns about high valuations of companies in the artificial intelligence space have weighed on the technology sector. Shares of Western Digital (WDC), a hard disk maker that has attracted investor attention due to its opportunity to help meet the big data storage needs of artificial intelligence, fell 5.9% on Tuesday. Shares of memory chip maker Micron Technology (MU) lost 5.6%.

Shares of Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) fell by 4.4% and 2.7%, respectively, as European Union regulators announced that they had begun investigations into the cloud computing services provided by the two technology giants.

The decline in Microsoft shares also came when the software giant announced a partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. Chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) announced a deal with Anthropic as well. Nvidia shares fell nearly 3% Tuesday ahead of the chipmaker’s highly anticipated earnings announcement Wednesday afternoon.

Medtronic (MDT) stock advanced about 5% after the medical device maker beat analyst estimates with its fiscal second-quarter sales and adjusted earnings. The maker of pacemakers and other cardiovascular devices also raised its full-year forecast for organic revenue growth, highlighting strong procedure volumes and a positive demand picture across its end markets.

Merck (MRK) announced positive results from a Phase 2 trial of a key heart treatment, and shares of the drug company jumped nearly 4%. In this study, Merck’s Winrevair product achieved preliminary results in helping patients with certain heart conditions reduce pulmonary hypertension, or high blood pressure in the blood vessels that supply the lungs.