By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- Stocks wobbled on Thursday, with tech turning down despite data that showed the pace of inflation may have slowed.
Producer prices rose 0.2% in December after a 0.8% gain the month before, with signs the supply chain bottlenecks seen during the fall were beginning to ease. That stoked confidence the worst of the surge in prices has past, just as the worst of the Omicron variant surge of Covid seems also to be cresting in the U.S.
For the year, producer prices jumped 9.7%, but that was just shy of expectations for a jump of 9.8%, according to analysts polled by Reuters.
It’s earnings season yet again, with companies will reporting results on the final quarter of 2021 in the coming weeks. Year-over-year earnings growth from S&P 500 companies were expected to be lower in the fourth quarter compared to the first three quarters but still strong at 22.4%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv, Reuters reported.
Big banks kick things off on Friday, which is just as Wall Street heads off for a three day weekend. The stock market is closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Big bank earnings
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) leads a wave of big banks reporting on Friday. Analysts expect it will declare fourth-quarter profit per share of $3 on revenue of $29.87 billion, according to Investing.com data. Analysts will be listening to what executives have to say about business and consumer borrowing and the health of the economy.
2. Retail sales
Retail sales in December are expected to decline by 0.1% month-on-month after rising 0.3% in November from October, according to analysts tracked by Investing.com. Holiday sales may have been affected by the spread of Omicron and the fact that people shopped for gifts earlier in the fall for fear of shortages. The numbers come out at 8:30 AM ET.
3. Michigan sentiment
The preliminary reading of the U.S. consumer sentiment for January, as reflected in the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index, is seen deteriorating slightly to 70 from December’s 70.6. Last month’s final figures followed a decade low of 67.4 in November.
–Reuters and Investing.com staff contributed to this report