Wall Street Opens Lower Following Pullback in Retail Sales

A street light brightens a Wall Street sign outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Oct. 3, 2022. (Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo)

NEW YORK—Stocks are opening lower across the board on Wall Street as traders grapple with a sharp pullback in retail spending last month and new signals from the Federal Reserve that interest rates will need to go higher than previously expected. The S&P 500 was down 1.4 percent in the early going Thursday, erasing nearly all of its gains from early in the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was off 1.7 percent and the Dow was down 1.3 percent. The government reported that retail sales fell 0.6 percent from October to November, more than expected. The pullback followed a sharp rise the previous month.