Retail sales, Cisco earnings, Shopify results: 3 things to watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks struggled to find direction on Tuesday after a slightly higher-than-expected rise in the consumer price index in January compared with the same month last year.

December's consumer price index number for the month-over-month change was revised higher.

The Federal Reserve has been closely watching inflation data as it prepares to meet again next month. The market expects it will raise interest rates by another quarter of a percentage point, and do another rate hike in May, pushing the benchmark rate above 5% before peaking in July.

A still-strong labor market is complicating efforts to cool inflation. Tech companies have laid off tens of thousands of workers in the last few weeks, but that has yet to be reflected in jobs numbers, which were unexpectedly strong in January.

Thursday will bring the next reading on jobless claims from the previous week, and on Wednesday, investors will see retail sales data for January, two more sets of data to judge progress on the economic recovery.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Retail sales

The retail sales report for January is due out at 8:30 ET (13:30 GMT). Analysts expect the monthly reading to rise 1.8% from December after falling 1.1% the prior month.

2. Cisco earnings

Computer network firm Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) is reporting earnings. Analysts expect earnings per share of 85 cents on revenue of $13.4 billion, and they will be listening to what the company says about the sales and demand environment.

3. Shopify earnings

Analysts expect e-commerce website host Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) to report a loss of 1 cent a share on revenue of $1.65B.