By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 116.2 points or 1.7% to 7,064.5 on Thursday, snapping four sessions of consecutive advance and tracking Wall Street lower as major U.S. retailer Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) tanked 25% after missing earnings expectations overnight, citing surging inflation pressures and supply chain disruptions.
Among stocks, Consumer Staples dropped 3.7% overall, with Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) down 5.6%, Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) falling 4% and Coles Group Ltd (ASX:COL) down 3.4%.
Consumer Discretionary finished 3.1% lower as JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) fell 6.6%, Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) dropped 0.7% and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES) declined 7.8%.
Information Technology retreated 2.7% collectively, with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) down 2.4%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) falling 1.9%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) down 4%, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) falling 2% and Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) declining 6.4%.
On the data front, Australia's Unemployment rate fell to 3.9%, the lowest level in almost 50 years while Employment rose by 4K, missing expectations of 30K.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 3.377% while United States 10-Year rates were at 2.889%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 0.5% to 11,207.