S&P 500 Index opens in negative territory following mixed US data

• Wall Street's main indexes opened lower on Tuesday.
• Retail Sales in US fell more than expected in July.
• S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index is falling sharply after the opening bell.

Major equity indexes in the US opened in the negative territory on Tuesday as safe-haven flows continue to dominate the financial markets. As of writing, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% on the day at 4,453, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 0.74% at 35,354 and the Nasdaq Composite was falling 0.75% at 14,684.

Earlier in the day, the data published by the US Census Bureau revealed that Retail Sales declined by 1.1% on a monthly basis in July to $617.7 billion. With this reading missing the market expectation for a contraction of 0.2%, the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index fell sharply and was last seen losing 1.8% on the day.

Other data from the US revealed that Industrial Production expanded by 0.9% in July, compared to analysts' estimate for an increase of 0.4%, but this print failed to help the market sentiment improve.

The only major sector that's trading in the positive territory after the opening bell is the Healthcare Index, which was last up 0.3%.

S&P 500 chart (daily)