Stocks Opened Lower; Retailers Hit

U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday amid disappointing earnings from Staples Inc., Home Depot, Inc. and
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 52.14 points, or 0.32%, to 16,459.72. The S&P 500 was off 4.95 point , or 0.26%, to 1,880.13. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 19.91 points, or 0.48%, to 4,105.91.

Staples Inc. said fiscal first-quarter profit shrank 43% as the office-supplies chain continued to struggle with softer sales and traffic at its stores. For the period ended May 3, Staples posted earnings of $96.2 million, or 15 cents a share, down from $169.9 million, or 26 cents a share, in the prior-year period. Excluding restructuring charges and other items, the company posted earnings of 18 cents a share in the latest period.

Home Depot Inc. said its fiscal first-quarter sales and earnings grew despite impacts from lingering winter weather. The results, however, fell below analysts’ expectations. Its profit for the quarter was $1.38 billion, or $1 a share, up from $1.23 billion, or 83 cents a share, a year earlier.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS) lowered its second-quarter and full-year outlook, citing continued weakness in its golf segment. The retailer reported first-quarter non-GAAP profit of 50 cents a share, below guidance of 51-53 cents a share. On a GAAP basis, EPS was 57 cents a share. Sales rose 7.9% to $1.4 billion.

European Union antitrust regulators charged Europe’s biggest bank HSBC, U.S. peer JPMorgan and France’s
Credit Agricole on Tuesday with rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro, exposing them to potential fines.

Sprint Corp. (S) has been ordered to pay a $7.5 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission over violating its Do-Not-Call rule.

Vodafone Group PLC on Tuesday said it is making progress as the mobile telecom giant’s full-year net profit soared following the sale of its U.S. wireless operations. Net profit in the fiscal year to March 31 rose to 59.3 billion pounds ($99.7 billion) from 413 million pounds in the year-earlier period.

Google Inc. said it is buying Divide, a mobile device management startup, to help the Internet giant’s Android business reach more business customers.