Stock Market Live May 21: S&P 500 (VOO) Falling on Mixed Retail News

By Joel South Updated May 21, 4:34PM EDT · Published May 21, 9:47AM EDT

Key Points

Home Depot reported an earnings miss but a sales beat yesterday. Today, Lowe’s reported an earnings beat but a sales miss.
Target missed on top and bottom lines and lowered sales guidance for the year.

Live Updates

Another Red Day for the Voo

May 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM EDT

For the second day in a row, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF closed lower Wednesday, down 1.7%.

FICO's Failing Score

May 21, 2025 at 2:26 PM EDT

Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE: FICO | FICO Price Prediction) is down double digits on criticism from Federal Housing Finance Administration Director Bill Pulte. “Why do some credit reports cost double (Biden’s term) from what they did during President Trump’s first term?” asked the director, sending FICO shares spiraling down more than 13%. TransUnion (NYSE: TRU), which is in the same business but perhaps less associated with the iconic “FICO score,” is down half as much, 7.3%.

Fair Isaac is an S&P 500 component company, and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is now down 1.3%.

Dome -- Golden, Stock Market -- Red

May 21, 2025 at 11:02 AM EDT

President Trump announced yesterday that he will build a Golden Dome missile shield over the United States within three years, and at a $175 billion purchase price. Defense contractors L3Harris (NYSE: LHX), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), RTX Corp (NYSE: RTX) were all named as likely participants in the project. Of the three, however, only L3Harris’s stock is moving higher today.

As for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, it’s in the red as well — down 0.4%.

Bond Yields Inch Higher

May 21, 2025 at 10:00 AM EDT

Yields on 30-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury bills are moving back higher, with the 30-year once again over 5% (5.02%, to be precise) and the 10-year above 4.5% (4.54%). Economists blame both the recent Moody’s downgrade of U.S. debt, and also the recent “Big, Beautiful Bill” introduced by the Trump Administration, which threatens to expand the annual budget deficit and add to U.S. national debt.

This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) opened down 0.6% on Wednesday as big box retailers, especially vulnerable to global tariffs turmoil, continued reporting mixed results.

S&P 500 index component Home Depot (NYSE: HD) yesterday reported better than expected sales numbers, but worse than expected earnings. Today, it was archrival and fellow S&P 500 component Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) turn to (not) shine. The home improvement retailer beat on earnings with a $2.92 per share profit, but its sales of $20.9 billion came in just shy of expectations.

Target (NYSE: TGT) added to the turmoil when it reported top and bottom line misses this morning. Also an index component, Target ‘s $23.85 billion in sales and $1.30 per share in adjusted earnings both fell short of what analysts forecast.

Adding to investor worries, Target cut its sales forecast for the rest of this year, blaming weak consumer spending and uncertainty created by a changing national tariffs policy.

Other earnings

In happier earnings news, Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW) beat on both top and bottom lines last night. Earnings of $0.80 per share were about 4% better than expected, and sales of $2.3 billion edged out consensus expectations.

The bad news is that Palo Alto Networks is also an S&P 500 component, and despite its earnings beat, investors are selling off the stock (now down 7.5%), which is pulling the index lower.

Analyst Calls

S&P component Autozone (NYSE: AZO) won an upgrade to buy from Bank of America Securities this morning. Tax refunds are putting more money in consumer pockets, said the analyst. Not enough money to let them afford to buy a car, necessarily, but BofA thinks rising prices on both new and used cars is going to encourage consumers to keep their current cars longer, and spend more on car parts to keep them running.

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About the Author Joel South →

Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.

He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.