US stocks dip despite strong Home Depot earnings

New York - Wall Street stocks opened lower on Tuesday, giving back some of the prior day's gains, as Home Depot shares dipped despite better-than-expected earnings.

The home-improvement retailer raised its full-year forecast after reporting a 14.2% jump in first-quarter earnings to $1.8bn. The results were the latest to show strong consumer spending for housing-related items even as US shoppers show restraint in other areas such as apparel.

Shares of Home Depot, a Dow component, fell 1.3%. The decline reflects that the retailer's "good news has already been priced into the stock," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 681.19, down 0.2%.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.1% at 2 064.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed less than 0.1% at 4 774.51.