Wall Street Flat as Home Improvement Retailers Get Amazoned<br />NEW YORK — Stocks ended little changed on Wall Street on Thursday as a deal between Sears<br />and Amazon weighed on home improvement retailers while gains in Microsoft helped buoy the Nasdaq.<br />Retailers and appliance makers fell after Sears said it would sell its Kenmore home appliances on Amazon<br />and integrate the brand’s smart gadgets with the online giant’s Alexa digital assistant.<br />The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.97 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 21,611.78, the S&P 500 lost 0.38 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,473.45<br />and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.96 points, or 0.08 percent, to 6,390.00.<br />Home Depot fell 4.1 percent, shaving off 40 points from the Dow and weighing the most on the S&P 500.<br />Earnings overall are very strong," said Anthony Conroy, president at Abel Noser in New York.<br />"It’s not going to make things any better, it just won’t make them worse,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago
