Stocks opened in negative territory, putting the Dow’s eight-day win streak in jeopardy. Some of the weakness is attributed to the pressure from Dow component Home Depot (HD), which is falling following its Q1 results. While its shares have recovered slightly, the averages remain under pressure at midday. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., retail sales rose 0.3% in April, matching economists’ consensus view. The Empire state manufacturing index bounced 4.3 points to 20.1 in May, which was better than expected. Business inventories were flat in March, with sales up 0.5%. A housing index kept by the National Association of Home Builders rose one point to a reading of 70 for May. In Asia, China’s retail sales growth of 9.4% fell short of the 10% growth expectation, though industrial production growth of 7% was ahead of expectations. The Eurozone GDP numbers for Q1 were inline w/expectations. In Europe, the second estimate of the EU’s statistics agency showed that the eurozone’s GDP expanded by 0.4% in the first quarter of the year compared with the previous quarter, in-line with the preliminary estimate. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Home Depot have slid about 1.5% after softer seasonal sales impacted by weather caused the home improvement giant’s revenue to miss expectations in the first quarter. Of note, Home Depot’s same-store sales growth of 4.2% in the quarter came in below the company’s full-year forecast for same-store sales to rise 5% compared to last year… Boeing (BA) noted that the World Trade Organization issued its final decision in a case brought by the U.S. and the aircraft maker, stating that “the WTO has determined the EU must end its unfair business practices and remedy the ongoing harm caused by the illegal subsidies.” Boeing added that the ruling “clears the way for the United States Trade Representative to seek remedies in the form of tariffs against European imports to the United States (that) are likely to total billions in duties per year, unless and until Airbus addresses the illegal subsidies it received from European governments for its most recently launched airplanes.” MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Hollysys Automation (HOLI), which rose 13.5% after its Q3 report prompted upgrades of the stock at Citi and JPMorgan. Also higher was Valeant (VRX), which gained 3.5% after Mizuho analyst Irina Koffler upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral, saying that adjusting individual product growth estimates has made her more constructive on Valeant’s turnaround story. Among the notable losers was Tesla (TSLA), which slipped 3% after Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas made significant cuts to his near-term and long-term auto margin forecasts and cut his price target on the stock down to $291 from $376. Also lower were Vipshop (VIPS) and Agilent (A), which fell a respective 19% and nearly 9% after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 212.00, or 0.85%, to 24,687.41, the Nasdaq was down 69.14, or 0.93%, to 7,342.17, and the S&P 500 was down 20.78, or 0.76%, to 2,709.35.