Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Short week shuffle
Stocks are coming off a mixed week and a three-day weekend, meaning the bulls have just four days to shake off recent losses. The Dow and the S&P 500 finished last week down slightly. It was the third straight week of losses for the Dow and the second consecutive frame for the S&P. The Nasdaq managed to finish in positive territory when the closing bell rang Friday. This week, investors will get a big new slate of earnings to parse (see below). On Wednesday, they'll get some insight into how the Federal Reserve's policy makers are thinking as minutes from the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 Fed meeting is released. Follow live markets updates.
2. You want more earnings? You got 'em
Earnings season enters a new phase this week, with retailers starting to report. Home Depot and Walmart posted holiday-quarter earnings Tuesday morning. (See below.) Target and Lowe's are due to report next week, as well. But before then, here are some of the big names reporting the rest of this week:
- Tuesday: Caesars Entertainment, Coinbase, Palo Alto Networks (after the bell)
- Wednesday: eBay, Etsy, Lucid, Nvidia (after the bell)
- Thursday: Papa John's, Nikola (before the bell); Carvana, Beyond Meat, Block, Warner Bros. Discovery, Live Nation (after the bell)
3. Walmart reports holiday-quarter results
The economy has given investors plenty of mixed signals in recent months. It looked like holiday sales weren't so hot overall, but retail sales easily beat expectations in January. Inflation is cooling off a little, but it's still high and forcing shoppers to be more judicious about how they spent their money. That's where Walmart comes in. The nation's biggest retailer, grocer and employer posted earnings and revenue that easily beat Wall Street's expectations for the holiday quarter. And, according to CEO Doug McMillon, the company is cruising into its new fiscal year with a lot of momentum, as the economy faces uncertainty this year.
4. Home Depot to boost wages
Home Depot said Tuesday that it would spend $1 billion to boost wages for its hourly workers. The raise officially went into effect Feb. 6, so employees will see the bump in their paychecks this month. The move makes Home Depot the latest retailer to recognize it's hard to keep employees happy in this tight job market. Walmart recently said it would bump its minimum wage to $14, effective in March. Home Depot also reported earnings Tuesday morning. The company missed Wall Street's revenue expectations for the first time since November 2019 and issued a muted outlook for the year.
5. Biden makes a statement
President Joe Biden made a surprising visit to Kyiv on Monday, walking the streets of the Ukrainian capital alongside Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, even as air raid sirens went off. It was a bold move for Biden, who has pledged support and aid for Ukraine as it faces the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion, as it came across as a direct shot at Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin's war is seen as a failure so far, leaving Putin to blame the West and even the wealthy oligarchs who have prospered under his rule. Follow live war updates.
– CNBC's Fred Imbert, Melissa Repko, Gabrielle Fonrouge and Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.
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