US stocks continue retreat as investors weigh retail earnings reports

• US stocks traded lower on Wednesday as investors weighed retail earnings results.
• The market extended its two-day decline from record highs reached on Monday.
• The move lower comes as The White House is expected to recommend a booster COVID-19 shot.
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US stocks traded lower on Wednesday, extending their two-day decline from record highs reached on Monday.

The decline in stocks comes amid a flood of second-quarter earnings results from retailers like Home Depot, Target, and Walmart. While results were ahead of analyst expectations for all three retailers, concerns about future guidance and peak growth led to a sell-off in the stocks.

The move lower on Wednesday also comes amid reports that The White House is expected to recommend a third COVID-19 booster vaccine shot for all adults later today, as the country scrambles to combat the recent surge in daily cases of the Delta variant.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 4,439.21, down 0.2%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,239.31, down 0.29% (103.97 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 14,655.80, down 0.01%

The future of dogecoin could be getting a potential boost after ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin joined the token's foundation.

The Federal Reserve's Neel Kashkari said cryptocurrencies are 95% fraud, hype, and noise, and scoffed at the idea of creating his own "neelcoin."

BlackRock is unfazed by the recent regulatory crackdown in Beijing, with the investment giant recommending investors triple their allocations in Chinese assets, according to a FT report.

Oil prices jumped. West Texas Intermediate crude was up as much as 0.27%, to $66.77 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, rose 0.88%, to $69.64 per barrel.

Gold jumped as much as 0.15%, to $1,790.50 per ounce.