STOCKS TUMBLE, RETAILERS GET SLAMMED: Here's What You Need To Know

REUTERS/Cathal McNaughtonA man walks through a field of maize, planted under a film of biodegradable plastic which raises the soil temperature at the start of the season, near the city of Londonderry May 19, 2014.

There wasn't anything on the economic data calendar today. But some bad news from retailers and some hawkish words from Fed officials kept things interesting today.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 16,350.2 (-161.6, -0.9%)
• S&P 500: 1,871.2 (-13.8, -0.7%)
• Nasdaq: 4,091.8, (-33.9, -0.8%)

And now the top stories:

• On Monday afternoon, Urban Outfitters reported that sales at its namesake store plunged 12% during the first quarter. "While Anthropologie and Free People continue to deliver record levels in sales and profits, Urban Outfitters had a disappointing quarter and is working diligently to regain its fashion footing," said CEO Richard Hayne.
• Dick's Sporting Goods announced weaker-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings. "Our difficulties this quarter were isolated to two categories: golf and hunting," said CEO Edward Stack. "After a very challenging first quarter in golf last year, we expected some further headwinds and only modest improvement, but instead we saw a continued significant decline. In the case of hunting, we planned the business down based on last year's catalysts, but it was even weaker than expected."
• The TJX Companies, which owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, also announced weak finacial results. "For the first quarter, our consolidated comparable store sales increased 1%, and our earnings per share of $.64 were slightly below our expectations with a negative impact from foreign currency exchange rates that was larger than our guidance assumed," said CEO Carol Meyrowitz. "While sales were not as strong as we would have liked, predominantly in our apparel business, I was very pleased that overall business trends improved as the quarter progressed."
• Caterpillar disclosed that its rolling 3-month sales through April tumbled 13%. Latin America; Asia/Pacific; and Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) also saw sharp declines during the period. Caterpillar is recognized as a bellwether of economic activity.
• Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser took a somewhat hawkish tone today, saying that if the Fed continues its pace of reductions and the economy continues improving, the Fed could find itself "still trying to increase accommodation in an environment in which history suggests that policy should perhaps be moving in the opposite direction."
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