Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Trade Mixed as Home Depot Leads Retail Earnings Charge

Wall Street's rollercoaster continues as retail giants report—because nothing says economic stability like hardware store stocks carrying the entire market.

Earnings Season Reality Check

Home Depot single-handedly propping up indices while the rest of retail holds its breath. The Dow clinging to gains, S&P 500 playing neutral, and Nasdaq doing its usual tech volatility dance. Traders watching retail performance like hawks—because apparently consumer spending at home improvement stores is now the leading economic indicator.

Market Mechanics Exposed

Institutional money shuffles between sectors while Main Street investors just try to keep up. The usual suspects—inflation worries, Fed policy rumors, and geopolitical tensions—lurking in the background. Another day where fundamentals take a backseat to earnings headlines and analyst upgrades/downgrades.

Retail's make-or-break moment unfolds with all the predictability of a coin toss—because who needs consistent economic data when you've got quarterly reports to overreact to?