It Was a Rough Day for Target, La-Z-Boy

Wall Street ended lower Wednesday on more declines in technology stocks, but the market pared its losses in the afternoon.

• The S&P 500 fell 15.59 points, or 0.2%, to 6,395.78. after trimming a loss that reached 1.1% earlier in the day.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.04 points, or less than 0.1%, to 44,938.31.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 142.10 points, or 0.7%, to 21,172.86.

The day's action again centered around stocks caught up in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology, the AP reports. These stocks are facing criticism that their prices shot too high, too fast and became too expensive.

Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the world's move into AI, slipped 0.1% following its 3.5% fall on Tuesday. Palantir Technologies, another AI darling, sank 1.1% to add to its 9.4% loss from the day before. Trading was shaky, and Nvidia was down as much as 3.9% at one point during the day. One possible contributor to the swoon was a study from MIT's Nanda Initiative that warned most corporations are not yet seeing any measurable return from their generative AI investments, according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Mixed profit reports from big US retailers helped keep the rest of the market in check. TJX, the company behind the TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores, climbed 2.8% after beating analysts' forecasts for profit and revenue. It also raised its forecast for profit over its full fiscal year, while CEO Ernie Herrman said TJX is seeing "strong demand at each of our U.S. and international businesses" and that its current quarter is off to a strong start. Lowe's added 0.6% after the home-improvement retailer delivered a profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts' expectations. It also said it agreed to buy Foundation Building Materials, a distributor of drywall, ceiling systems and other interior building products, for about $8.8 billion.

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Target, meanwhile, tumbled 6.4%. The struggling retailer said that CEO Brian Cornell plans to step down Feb. 1 and that an insider, 20-year veteran Michael Fiddelke, will replace him. He helped reenergize the company, but it has struggled to turn around weak sales in a more competitive post-COVID retail landscape. Estee Lauder dropped 3.7% after offering a forecast for profit this upcoming fiscal year that fell short of Wall Street's estimates. The beauty company said it expects tariffs to shave roughly $100 million off its upcoming earnings. La-Z-Boy sank 12.1% after the furniture maker's profit and revenue for the spring came up shy of analysts' expectations.