Retail Sales Come In Worse Than Expected, Weigh On Market

I am beginning to sound like a broken record talking about the item of the day that is weighing on the market in early trading, only to see it fade by the end of the day and for the market to recover its losses. Of course, one of these days a weak open will stick, as we are overdue for at least a small pullback.

Retail sales reports were much weaker than expected, with a handful of companies reporting double digit declines in April sales. I don't think it is the start of a new trend, but it should help get the Fed's attention along with last month's weak jobs report. Remember, we don't want the Fed to wait until its too late to finally cut interest rates, as they have a history of doing.

There were also some weak earnings reports from WFMI, SLE, and DISH, and an earnings warning from HSY (where is the help from the weak dollar?). The Trade Deficit also come in wider than expected ($63.9 billion vs. $60.0 billion).

Asian markets were slighlty down overnight, and the Yen is lower vs. the dollar again (this is good). Oil is up this morning, back above $62, and bond yields are steady at 4.65%.

Despite the weak retail sales figures, the RLX is moving into positive territory as I write this. Go figure.