By Ryan Dezember

Shares of Home Depot and Lowe's are on track for their best day of the past year, a sign that investors are quickly repositioning for a world in which the U.S. consumer is spending a lot less at the pump than expected just a day ago.

It's not just the promise of greater sales of mulch, flowers and barbecue grills this spring that makes home-center stocks more appealing the lower oil prices fall. Home Depot and Lowe's are typically beneficiaries of lower interest rates, which spur home sales and big-ticket renovations and look more likely now that fuel prices have stopped barreling toward all-time highs.

Home Depot, Lowe's and many of their suppliers have slumped as high interest rates froze sales of existing homes and prevented many homeowners from borrowing against their houses to fund repairs and remodeling jobs.

The sharp reversal in oil prices following President Trump's cease-fire-for now, at least-reduces the risk that high oil prices result in broad inflation and knock the Fed from its rate-cutting course.

Besides bidding up the big retailers Tuesday, investors are also piling into shares of lumber-producer Weyerhaeuser, paint-maker Sherwin-Williams and RPM International, which owns hardware-store staples including Rust-Oleum spray paint and DAP caulk.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2026 12:58 ET (16:58 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.