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The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial indexes edged higher on Monday after February retail sales missed expectations, but didn’t show a collapse in consumer demand. The Nasdaq Composite edged lower.
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 for March. The NAHB housing market reading for this month unexpectedly declined, to 39 from 42 — consensus has been for 42.5. Business inventories rebounded by less than expected in January.
Here are some stocks to watch today.
Affirm
Affirm (AFRM) stock fell 12% 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
Baidu’s (BIDU) American depositary receipts rose 5.7% 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
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. The stock gained 0.7%.
Incyte
Incyte (INCY) stock fell more than 10% after the drugmaker reported clinical trial results for its oral treatment for the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) that disappointed analysts.