S&P HIGHER, WALMART WEIGHS DOWN THE DOW

The world’s biggest brick-and-mortar retailer (WMT.N) reported a lower-than-expected profit and posted a sharp drop in online sales growth during the holiday period. Its shares slumped 9.4 percent, on track for their biggest intraday percentage fall in more than two years. A steep fall in Walmart shares put the skids on the blue-chip Dow’s six-day winning streak, but gains in Amazon and technology stocks propped up the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.