Wall Street wobbles

Wall Street stocks on Thursday dropped in early trade on a mixed report on US retail sales and rising sectarian fighting in Iraq. About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 26.14 points (0.16 per cent) at 16,817.74. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 3.46 (0.18 per cent) at 1,940.43, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 9.15 (0.21 per cent) to 4,322.78. The Commerce Department said May retail and food sales rose by just 0.3 per cent, well below the 0.7 per cent increase expected by analysts. However, the report also revised the estimate for April retail sales growth from 0.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent. Amazon launched a streaming music service as part of its "Prime" subscription-based service. Amazon said the service was an added benefit for subscribers, although the catalog of more than one million songs is far smaller than offerings from some rival services. Shares fell 1.5 per cent. Struggling yoga apparel maker Lululemon Athletica sank 15.5 percent after projecting earnings for the upcoming quarter of 28-30 cents per share, below the 36 cents projected by analysts. The company's full-year outlook also disappointed. Twitter said chief operating officer Ali Rowghani resigned from the post but would remain a Twitter employee and serve as a strategic adviser to the chief executive. Shares gained 3.0 per cent. Home furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware jumped 13.5 percent as first-quarter sales surged 21.5 percent. The company boosted its 2014 outlook on strong demand in the sector. Bond prices were unchanged. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 2.64 percent, the same level as Wednesday, while the 30-year was flat at 3.47 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely, according to AFP.