Market Volatility Increases Following Profit Warning By Walmart

U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday following a profit warning by Walmart (NYSE: WMT).

Walmart shares dipped around 8% on Tuesday after the retailer lowered its profit forecast for the full year. Shares of
Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) also fell 3.6% and 5.2%, respectively on Tuesday.

Data released Tuesday also showed US consumer confidence fell to around 1-1/2-year low level in July amid continuous concerns about increasing inflation.

The Federal Reserve, which started a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, is projected to announce a 0.75 percentage point interest increase in order to combat rising inflation.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 settled lower, with utilities stocks recording the biggest surge on Tuesday. Consumer discretionary, however, was the worst performing sector in the previous session, dropping around 3.3%.

The Dow Jones dipped 228.50 points to 31,761.54 on Tuesday, while the Nasdaq 100 lost 1.87% to 11,562.57 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 4.4% to 24.38 points on Wednesday.

Investors are now awaiting the release of several economic reports, including durable goods orders, U.S. international trade in goods, wholesale inventories and pending home sales index, due to be released today.