Dow Slips as Oil Tops $90 on Iran Tensions While Home Depot's Earnings Beat Offers Some Market Relief

NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 87.36 points, or 0.16%, to 53,372.42 as of 9:44 a.m. EDT Tuesday, as rising oil prices tied to escalating tensions with Iran weighed on broader market sentiment even as a stronger-than-expected earnings report from Home Depot offered some support to blue-chip stocks.

Tuesday's modest decline followed a sharper pullback across Wall Street on Monday, when all three major indexes closed lower amid rising crude prices and climbing long-term Treasury yields. The Dow fell 272.63 points, or 0.51%, to close at 53,459.78, while the S&P 500 slid 0.52% to 7,745.06 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.32% to 26,644.91. That pullback came as West Texas Intermediate crude climbed above $83 a barrel and Brent crude moved above $88, with crude prices gaining roughly 3% during Monday's session alone following the expiration of a 60-day window for the U.S. and Iran to reach a deal aimed at ending their ongoing conflict.

By Tuesday, oil prices had pushed even higher, with crude trading above $90 a barrel as concerns over instability in the Middle East continued to dominate broader market sentiment. According to Yahoo Finance, Middle East conflict concerns combined with the elevated oil prices weighed on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq early Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite falling as much as 1.2% in premarket trading, leading declines among the major indexes, while the Dow traded closer to flat.

Home Depot emerged as one of the session's key earnings stories. The home improvement retailer reported fiscal second-quarter sales of $47.86 billion, topping analyst expectations of roughly $47.27 billion, alongside adjusted earnings per share of $4.92, ahead of the $4.73 consensus estimate. The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance, continuing to project comparable sales of roughly flat to up 2% for fiscal 2026, along with adjusted earnings per share in a range of flat to up 4% from $14.69, compared with a consensus estimate of $14.96.

According to Investing.com, Home Depot shares rose as much as 2.1% in pre-market trading following the report, with demand from repair-focused customers proving more resilient than some investors had feared. However, by the time regular trading got underway, the stock's gains had moderated considerably, with CNBC reporting the shares up only around 1% after the company left its full-year guidance unchanged despite the top-line beat. Oppenheimer analyst Brian Nagel offered commentary on the results in a CNBC interview, breaking down the retailer's performance as investors weighed the company's outlook against continuing softness in the broader housing market. Home Depot separately reaffirmed its guidance while citing what the company described as "frozen housing market conditions," according to CNBC's coverage of the report.

Notably, Home Depot's earnings call was led by interim management, with Senior Executive Vice President Ann-Marie Campbell and Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail steering the company after Chief Executive Ted Decker began a temporary medical leave on Aug. 12.

Home Depot's results carried added significance given the broader context of this week's retail earnings slate. Walmart, Target, Lowe's and TJX are all scheduled to report results over the coming days, with Lowe's set to report Wednesday and Walmart due Thursday. Those reports are being closely watched following Friday's weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales data, which showed sales unexpectedly fell 0.6% in July, the largest monthly decline in more than a year, raising questions about whether elevated interest rates, inflation and broader household financial pressure are beginning to weigh more heavily on consumer spending.

TheStreet Pro contributor James "Rev Shark" DePorre highlighted the outsized importance the market is placing on this week's retail results given that backdrop. "The retailers are the real news," DePorre said. "Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Home Depot (HD) all report earnings, and after Friday's weaker-than-expected retail sales those reports will carry more weight than they normally would." DePorre also flagged Wednesday's scheduled release of Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes as a significant event to watch this week, given recent signs of division among Fed officials. "Given that three members dissented in favor of a hike at the last meeting and Kevin Warsh declined to signal anything about the path ahead, the minutes may be more informative than usual," he said.

Beyond the retail and Home Depot storylines, Tuesday's session also featured notable pressure across the memory chip sector. Micron Technology and SK Hynix each fell more than 4% in premarket trading, while shares of Sandisk also declined more than 4%, according to CNBC, as memory chipmakers broadly retreated as a group after a period of significant gains tied to artificial intelligence-driven demand.

Elsewhere in Tuesday's earnings and market news, optical product manufacturer Fabrinet fell more than 9% despite fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that exceeded expectations, with the company citing anticipated seasonal expense pressure expected to weigh on margins during its fiscal first quarter of 2027. Buy-now-pay-later company Klarna's stock plunged following a trimmed financial outlook, according to Yahoo Finance's market coverage, while packaging company Amcor was downgraded to neutral from overweight by JPMorgan on Monday.

Individual premarket movers Tuesday included notable volatility beyond the major blue-chip names. Electric vehicle company Xos surged 114.6% on heavy trading volume, while medical technology company Profusa climbed 97.2%, according to market tracking. Super League Enterprise also jumped 64.5% amid unusually high trading activity, illustrating pockets of significant speculative interest even amid the broader market's more cautious overall tone Tuesday morning.

With Wednesday's Federal Reserve minutes and Lowe's earnings report on deck, followed by Walmart's results Thursday, investors are likely to continue closely monitoring how this week's combination of retail earnings, Fed commentary and ongoing Middle East-driven oil price volatility shapes broader market direction through the remainder of the week, as Wall Street works to reconcile continued strength in areas like artificial intelligence-linked technology stocks against renewed uncertainty stemming from both geopolitical developments and signs of a softening U.S. consumer.