news/ABNB/2023.02.15/US STOCKS-Wall Street mixed as retail sales point to more rate hikes.txt

(Refiles to add dropped word "Street" in headline)*Retail sales up 3% in Jan vs. est. of 1.8% rise*TSM slides as Berkshire Hathaway chops stake*Devon Energy drops to S&P 500 bottom on profit miss*Indexes: S&P 500 -0.12%, Nasdaq +0.32%, Dow -0.26%Feb 15 (Reuters) -Wall Street was mixed on Wednesday after
stronger-than-expected retail sales data offered evidence of
resilience in the U.S. economy, while also fueling expectations
of more interest rate hikes by Federal Reserve in the months
ahead.A Commerce Department report showed retail sales surged 3%
in January, driven by purchases of motor vehicles and other
goods. Economists polled by Reuters had estimated a sales would
increase by 1.8%.That follows data on Tuesday showing U.S. consumer prices
accelerated in January, boosting expectations that the U.S.
central bank will raise the policy rate at least twice more this
year to the 5-5.25% range."The good news from retail, and broadly from the stronger
economy, has been mostly priced in," said Ross Mayfield, an
investment strategist at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. "At the
same time, that strength has taken market expectations of rate
cuts off the table and moved the terminal Fed funds rate a
little bit higher."Fueled by a rebound in growth stocks that were hammered in
last year's stock market downturn, the S&P 500 has climbed
almost 8% so far in 2023. A better than expected quarterly
earnings season has provided cautious optimism.More than half of the S&P 500 firms have reported earnings
so far, and nearly 70% of those have topped profit expectations,
as per Refinitiv data. That compares to a long-term average of
66%.In afternoon trading, the S&P 500 was down 0.12% at
4,131.37 points.The Nasdaq gained 0.32% to 11,998.09 points, while the
Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.26% at 34,001.65 points.Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, six declined, led
lower by energy, down 2.05%, followed by a 0.5% loss in
health care.Tesla rose 1.5% with $28 billion worth of the
electric car maker's shares exchanged, equivalent to almost a
quarter of all trading in S&P 500 stocks.Roblox soared 25% after the gaming platform
popular with kidstoppedquarterly bookings estimates.U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co
(TSMC) fell 5.6% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway Inc slashed its stake in the chipmaker.Shares of Airbnb Inc and Tripadvisor Inc
rose 14% and 1.6%, respectively, after the companies posted
forecast-beating results due to strong travel demand.Devon Energy slumped almost 12% after the shale oil
producer missed expectations for quarterly profit due to a hit
to production from severe cold weather in the United States and
higher expenses.Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P
500 by a 1.1-to-one ratio.The S&P 500 posted 14 new highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq recorded 52 new highs and 45 new lows.(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru
and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, Calif., additional reporting
by Shristi Achar A; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Anil D'Silva and
David Gregorio)