US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow slip from record levels on Home Depot's dismal forecast

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Home Depot, Kohl's drop on full-year forecast cuts
* Other retail stocks battered
* AT&T falls on brokerage downgrade
* Broadcom up after Morgan Stanley upgrade
* Dow down 0.39%, S&P off 0.04%, Nasdaq up 0.26%

(Updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 19 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indexes
retreated from record levels on Tuesday as dour forecasts from
Home Depot and Kohl's eroded confidence that the U.S. consumer
will support the economy.
However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC rose 0.3%, supported
by gains in shares of Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Facebook Inc
FB.O and Broadcom Inc AVGO.O .
Home Depot Inc HD.N fell 5% and was the top drag on the
S&P 500 and the Dow after the U.S. home improvement chain cut
its 2019 sales forecast for the second time this year.
Kohl's Corp KSS.N slumped 17.6% as the department store
operator slashed its annual profit forecast after falling short
of quarterly comparable sales and earnings estimates.
"At the moment the consumer sentiment is still strong but
that doesn't mean it is going to reflect in every retailer's
earnings," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and
derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.
Other retail stocks also fell on the news, driving the S&P
500 retail index .SPXRT down 1.1%. Investors await reports
from Lowe's Cos Inc LOW.N , Target Corp TGT.N and Nordstrom
Inc JWN.N among others this week for clues on consumer
confidence and spending.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with the
consumer discretionary index's .SPLRCD 0.82% drop weighing the
most.
The three main U.S. stock indexes had opened higher on
continued optimism that Washington and Beijing would agree on a
deal to end a damaging trade war.
"Markets have probably risen a little too far ... so it is
no surprise that we are seeing some pause here," Frederick
added.
Expectations of a trade deal and a largely
better-than-expected third-quarter corporate earnings season
have fuelled a Wall Street rally over the past few weeks, with
the S&P 500 setting new records almost every day.
At 11:50 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 108.99 points, or 0.39%, at 27,927.23, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 1.17 points, or 0.04%, at 3,120.86.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 21.84 points, at
8,571.78.
Growing uncertainty over an ongoing U.S. impeachment inquiry
into President Donald Trump limited gains in markets.
MKTS/GLOB
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting,
where it cut interest rates for the third time this year will be
released on Wednesday.
Among other stocks, AT&T Inc T.N fell 3.5% after
MoffettNathanson downgraded the U.S. wireless carrier's stock to
"sell" from "neutral". Chipmaker Broadcom rose 3.1% after Morgan Stanley upgraded
its shares to "overweight" from "equal-weight". Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.08-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.60-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 38 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 77 new highs and 85 new lows.