What's On: Retail Sales, Tires, Hedge Funds and Jobless Claims

Here's what's up on Thursday's Squawk on the Street:

--Retail sales. Find out how the biggest retailers in the land fared ... from Wal-mart to JC Penney to Macy's.

--We're also talking tires. There's a shortage on the road and in the showroom. See what it means in the battle for rubber supremacy between Goodyear and Cooper Tire.

--There are new numbers showing hedge funds are buying stocks again, en masse. So today's Street Poll asks if you had $250,000 to invest at one time, do you think you'd be better off in a hedge fund, or investing it yourself? Share your opinion.

--We also expect stocks to move on weekly jobless claims ahead of Friday's big number. That means we'll be watching the big caps, stocks like Caterpillar, General Electric, Microsoft and Apple.

--We'll also talk about the sectors that employ the most people in the USA.

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Squawk on the Street comes to you live from the New York Stock Exchange each weekday morning at 9 a.m. ET.