The stock market is on edge ahead of the first debt sales of 2012, as Spanish and Italian bond auctions are scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday.
Euro zone debt sales always seem to have a big impact on market sentiment, but "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer is curious if that will still be the case in the new year. The debt auctions from Spain and Italy this week will test the appetite for the bonds of the two countries at the forefront of the Europe's sovereign debtcrisis. Spain sells up to 5 billion euros of 2015 and 2016 paper on Thursday, while Italy offers up to 4.75 billion euros of five-year bonds on Friday.
Elsewhere in the market, U.S. December retail sales numbers will be released on Thursday. Cramer doesn't think it will be as important to the market as the European auctions will be, but positive data could help counterweight any bad news out of Europe. Nevertheless, the aggregate sales number isn't likely to be as good as how individual retail names have been doing lately. So if you aren’t invested in the sector yet, Cramer would wait for a what could be a disappointing number before taking the plunge into retail. For those interested, Cramer prefers retailers Macy’s , TJX Companies and Ross Stores .
Finally, Cramer also plans to monitor Domino’s Pizzaearnings results on Thursday. He has a lot of respect for CEO Patrick Doyle, so he will be listening closely to what the pizza giant has to say.
—Reuters contributed to this report
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