Stocks Edged Lower in Early Trading

U.S. stocks edged lower in early trading on Tuesday amid uncertainty about progress for a partial China trade deal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 34.02 points, or 0.12%, to 28,002.20. The S&P 500 was down 0.69 point, or 0.02%, to 3,121.34. The Nasdaq Composite was up 7.18 points, or 0.08%, to 8,557.11.

Oil futures were on track for consecutive losses on Tuesday amid reports that major oil exporter Russia wasn’t likely to advocate for deeper cuts during an important December meeting of influential global oil producers. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down 73 cents, or 1.3%, at $56.41 a barrel, while January Brent crude lost 71 cents, or 1.1%, to $61.73 a barrel.

Home Depot Inc.(HD) beat fiscal third-quarter profit expectations but missed on total and same-store sales, and lowered its full-year outlook. It reported a 3% decline in its fiscal third quarter to Nov. 3 earnings of $2.77 billion, or $2.53 a share. Revenue rose 3.5% to $27.22 billion, and its U.S. comparable-store sales grew 3.8%.For the year, Home Depot still expects earnings per share growth of 3.1% but trimmed its sales growth view to 1.8% from 2.3%.