U.S. stocks slid on Friday after weak consumer data raised concerns about the economy. Retail sales dropped 0.6% in July, the first decline in nine months and the biggest in 14, while the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for August came in at 51.0, well below the 54.5 consensus. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.44%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.21%, and the S&P 500 eased 0.19% as of midday. Broadcom dropped 5.6%, shedding roughly $105 billion in market value and weighing most heavily on the indexes, while Applied Materials fell 4% despite guiding revenue above expectations. The Strait of Hormuz has essentially closed, with only two ships passing through on Friday versus a daily average of 130 before the war, keeping oil prices slightly higher.
