Stock indexes are mixed today, with the S&P 500 down -.10%, the Dow Jones up +0.12%, and the Nasdaq 100 down -0.25%. Retail sales in the US stagnated in December, hinting at weakness in consumer spending and the potential for a downward GDP revision. The Q4 employment cost index rose +0.7% q/q, lower than the expected +0.8% q/q.

The markets are closely watching corporate earnings and economic news this week. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to climb +68,000, while the unemployment rate is forecasted to remain at 4.4%. Weekly unemployment claims are expected to fall by -7,000, and existing home sales are expected to decline by -4.3% m/m. Q4 earnings results have been positive, with 79% of S&P 500 companies beating expectations.

Overseas stock markets are higher today, with the Euro Stoxx 50 up by +0.03%, China’s Shanghai Composite up by +0.13%, and Japan’s Nikkei Stock 225 up by +2.28%. Interest rates are also on the move, with the 10-year T-note yield falling to a 3-week low of 4.14%. European government bond yields have also decreased.

In the US stock market, cybersecurity stocks like Atlassian, Zscaler, and Cloudflare are up, while AI-infrastructure stocks such as Western Digital and Intel are down. Companies like Ichor Holdings, Spotify, and Datadog are reporting positive earnings, leading to stock price increases. Swaps are indicating a 2% chance of a -25 bp rate cut by the ECB at its next policy meeting.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: Stocks are Mixed After Weak Retail Sales Data Released