NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks declined early Wednesday as markets digested mixed earnings from retailers and awaited results from artificial intelligence titan Nvidia.

Big-box chain Target fell sharply after results, while home goods seller Williams-Sonoma rocketed higher. But the main event will be Nvidia’s results, which will come after the market closes and update the AI outlook.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 43,260.70.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.4 percent to 5,895.79, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.5 percent to 18,892.39.

US stocks mixed on lingering rate cut concerns

“So much is riding on Nvidia beating expectations,” said Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial. “It would help underpin, yet again, the AI story, it would help say that it is viable as opposed to it’s slowing down.”

US stocks opened lower on Tuesday amid worries over Russia and Ukraine, but two of the three major indices finished positive.

Moscow had warned on Tuesday it would respond after Ukraine fired longer-range US missiles at its territory for the first time, as Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a nuclear threat on the 1,000th day of the war.

Comcast fell 0.7 percent after announcing plans to pool together cable network channels including CNBC and MSNBC in a spin-off, further denting the conventional cable news business.