Stocks fell lower on Tuesday, snapping a 5-day win streak, as minutes from the Federal Reserve's recent meeting indicated that policymakers will hold interest rates at higher-for-longer levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped over 60 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.20% or -9.19 points to 4,538.19
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.18% or -62.75 points to 35,088.29
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.59% or -84.55 points to 14,199.98
Impacting afternoon trading, minutes from the Fed's Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 policy meeting showed that policymakers did not signal for interest rate cuts in the near-term.
"In discussing the policy outlook, participants continued to judge that it was critical that the stance of monetary policy be kept sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to the Committee's 2 percent objective over time," the minutes stated.
On the earnings front, Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) shares fell on Tuesday after the home improvement retailer reduced its full-year outlook for sales due to waning demand from consumers. The company now expects fiscal year sales of about $86 billion, down from a range of $87 billion to $89 billion.
CEO Marvin Ellison told investors during Tuesday's earnings call that the company saw a "greater-than-expected pullback" by consumers on discretionary projects and other large purchases.
"While we've seen a more cautious consumer for some time now, this quarter we saw some of these consumers increasingly prioritizing experiences over goods spending on travel and entertainment," Ellison said.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) also cut its full-year guidance on Tuesday, with the electronics retailer now expecting revenue in a range of $43.1 billion to $43.7 billion from its previous range of $43.8 billion to $44.5 billion. CEO Corie Barry said in the company's earnings release that Best Buy had anticipated for softer sales of consumer electronics this year, but consumer demand "has been even more uneven and difficult to predict."
Barry added that the retailer is "prepared for a customer who is very deal-focused with promotions and deals for all budgets," this holiday season.
In economic news, sales of existing U.S. homes fell to a 13-year low in October as rising prices squeezed many would-be buyers from the market. Sales fell 4.1% lower in October compared to September at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3.79 million nits, according to the National Association of Realtors report released Tuesday. Sales were also down 14.6% year-over-year.
"Prospective home buyers experienced another difficult month due to the persistent lack of housing inventory and the highest mortgage rates in a generation," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR. "Multiple offers, however, are still occurring, especially on starter and mid-priced homes, even as price concessions are happening in the upper end of the market."
For Wednesday, market participants will react to earnings reports from companies including Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Deere & Company (NYSE: DE), as well as November's final consumer sentiment reading.