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Home Depot ( HD ) drops after cutting FY profit forecast

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Nvidia ( NVDA ) due to report this week

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US September jobs report also due this week

(Updates to close)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended lower on

Tuesday, with the S&P 500 putting in a fourth day of losses as

valuation worries hit big technology-related shares and a

disappointing forecast pressured Home Depot ( HD ).

Quarterly results from artificial intelligence and market

leader Nvidia ( NVDA ) are due after the bell on Wednesday. The

U.S. earnings season is near its end, but Nvidia's ( NVDA ) results will

be closely watched by investors worried about market gains tied

to AI exuberance. Nvidia's ( NVDA ) shares were lower on the day.

The September U.S. jobs report is set to be released on

Thursday after being delayed because of the long government

shutdown. Earlier private market surveys have pointed to a

cooling labor market. Data Tuesday showed the number of

Americans on jobless benefits surged between mid-September and

mid-October.

Shares of Home Depot ( HD ) dropped after the home

improvement chain gave a forecast for full-year profit that

disappointed and missed quarterly earnings estimates.

Home Depot ( HD ) aside, earnings for this reporting period have

been much stronger than expected. Year-over-year earnings growth

for the S&P 500 is now at 16.9%, well above the 8.8% estimated

at the start of October, according to the most recent LSEG data.

"You're having this massive sentiment correction during a

period where earnings is delivering maybe above bull

expectations, and, yet, there's so much fear circulating in the

market," said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at

retirement and wealth services provider Empower.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

lost 55.54 points, or 0.83%, to end at 6,616.87 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite lost 279.42 points, or 1.23%,

to 22,428.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 494.16 points, or 1.07%, to 46,096.08.

Concerns over high valuations and dwindling expectations of

a December interest rate cut have led to a pullback in U.S.

stocks, with the S&P 500 down from its October peak.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both closed below their 50-day

moving averages on Monday, an important technical threshold, for

the first time since late April.

(Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Twesha Dikshit in

Bengaluru and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Editing by Shilpi

Majumdar, Krishna Chandra Eluri and Aurora Ellis)