The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial indexes opened slightly higher on Monday after February retail sales missed expectations, but didn’t show a collapse in consumer demand.
Futures had earlier pointed down after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he he was “not at all” worried about the stock market, calling corrections “healthy.” The market’s direction today may depend on whether the president says anything to intensify his trade war.
“We will feel better about calling a stock market bottom when the market is no longer ‘tarrified’ by Trump’s tariff threats and actions,” Yardeni Research wrote in a note. “It might bottom after April 2, when Trump imposes reciprocal tariffs all around the world, if they lead to tariff-reduction negotiations.”
U.S. retail sales rebounded in February, but by less than expected. The headline tally gained 0.2% from the prior month, compared with the StreetAccount consensus for a 0.7% increase. January’s month-on-month decline was revised to 1.2% from 0.5%. Ex-auto sales rose 0.3%, also less than expected.
In other economic indicators, the Empire manufacturing index weakened much more than expected, to -20. Business inventories and the NAHB housing market index are due at 10 a.m. ET time today.
Here are some stocks to watch today.
Affirm (AFRM) stock fell more than 10% after CNBC reported, citing people familiar, that rival Klarna will be the exclusive provider of buy now, pay later loans for Walmart (WMT) via the retailer’s OnePay fintech. Klarna isn’t yet publicly traded in the U.S.
Baidu’s (BIDU) American depositary receipts rose 3.5% after the Chinese search engine unveiled a new artificial intelligence model, Ernie X1, which works similarly to DeepSeek’s AI, Bloomberg reported. Baidu claimed the model excels in areas like daily dialogue, complex calculations and logical deduction. The company’s Hong Kong-listed shares gained 0.4%.
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) increased its stakes in Japanese trading firms Itochu Corp. (ITOCY), Sumitomo Corp. (SSUMY), Marubeni Corp. (MARUY), Mitsubishi Corp. (MSBHF) and Mitsui (MITSY), the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a filing. Warren Buffett flagged this as a possibility last month.
Incyte (INCY) stock fell 12% after the drugmaker reported clinical trial results for its oral treatment for the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) that disappointed analysts.
Lockheed Martin (LMT) stock was little changed after the government of Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, said it’s reviewing the country’s planned purchase of the aerospace manufacturer’s F-35 fighter jets, according to the CBC.
