Wall Street Dragged Down By Poor Walmart Results

Shares on Wall Street dropped on Tuesday, with retailers falling especially hard following disappointing results from Dow-member Walmart.

The world's biggest retailer plunged 10.2 percent after reporting a 42.1 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings to US$2.2 billion in results that revealed growing pains in the company's e-commerce build-out.

The Dow Jones finished down 1.0 percent at 24,964.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent to 2,716, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.1 percent to 7,234.

US stocks were a bit choppy throughout the day, with the Nasdaq positive much of the session before fading late.

Analysts said investors remain uneasy following the volatility of recent weeks. US stocks rallied last week after suffering deep losses the week earlier due to worries about tightening US monetary policy.

"I would say investors are de-risking in a quiet market," said Karl Haeling, vice president of LBBW.

Other large retailers also declined following the disappointment over Walmart's results, with Target losing 3.8 percent and Costco Wholesale down 1.8 percent.

NXP Semiconductors shot up 6.0 percent after US mobile chipmaker Qualcomm boosted its bid for the Dutch company to US$43 billion. Qualcomm fell 1.3 percent. (AFP)