New York, January 5, 2026, 14:34 EST — Regular session
- Home Depot shares dipped about 0.1% in afternoon trade, lagging a broad market rally.
- Energy and bank stocks led gains after a U.S. strike in Venezuela, pushing the Dow to fresh highs.
- Investors are watching the Jan. 9 U.S. payrolls report and Home Depot’s expected late-February earnings update.
Home Depot shares edged lower on Monday, down about 0.1% at $345.31, even as U.S. stocks rallied broadly. The stock has traded between $341.50 and $347.31 on the day.
The home-improvement chain often moves with investors’ views on U.S. housing turnover and large renovation spending. That sensitivity matters now, with the market trying to pin down how quickly borrowing costs might ease in 2026.
Wall Street’s risk appetite strengthened after a U.S. military strike captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, driving gains in oil and financial stocks, Reuters reported. “The mood has been favoring financial stocks in recent days,” said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers. Reuters
Lowe’s shares fell about 0.5%, also lagging the tape. By contrast, the consumer discretionary sector was sharply higher, underscoring the uneven appetite for housing-linked retail names.
Investors are also weighing how rate expectations feed into mortgage costs and, in turn, demand for big-ticket home projects. Markets are pricing in roughly 60 basis points of rate cuts this year — a basis point is 0.01 percentage point — according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Home Depot last month set a cautious preliminary outlook for fiscal 2026, projecting comparable sales — sales at stores open at least a year — roughly flat to up 2%. It also forecast adjusted earnings per share rising between flat and 4%, while pegging the overall home-improvement market in a range between -1% and +1%.
That guidance leaves the stock exposed to any delay in a housing rebound, especially if consumers keep postponing discretionary projects. Home Depot has been leaning into professional customers as it chases market share, but a slower-than-expected pickup in housing activity would make that target harder to hit.
The next near-term catalyst is Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Jan. 9. Home Depot is estimated to report earnings on Feb. 24, according to Nasdaq’s earnings calendar.
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