Retail Sales, Target and Retailers, Cisco: 3 Things to Watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks were mixed on Tuesday as big retailers kicked off earnings and investors continued to worry about an economic slowdown.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) both beat expectations, which should lift investor sentiment about the American consumer. This week includes a smattering of other retail reports, including from Target on Wednesday, and economic data on retail sales.

There will also be a smattering of housing data to help investors judge how quickly the sector is cooling off from last year's red-hot real estate market. Housing starts fell the most since last year, and existing home sales data is expected later this week.

President Joe Biden, fresh from signing the Democrats' big climate and healthcare bill into law, will go on the road early next month to talk up the new initiatives, which include tax credits for households to adopt clean energy, including electric vehicles, and lower health care costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and capping the annual out of pocket costs for prescriptions.

Investors are also looking forward to the Federal Reserve's annual confab in Jackson Hole, Wyo., later this month, where Chair Jerome Powell and other notables are scheduled to speak.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Retail sales

Data on retail sales for July are due out at 8:30 ET (12:30 GMT). Analysts expect month over month gains of 0.1% compared to the 1% jump in June.

2. Target earnings

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is the next big retailer to report, and analysts expect EPS of 80 cents on revenue of $26.1 billion. Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) is also expected to report EPS of $4.59 on revenue of $28.1 billion, and TJX Companies Inc (NYSE:TJX) is expected to report EPS of 67 cents on $12.1 billion.

3. Cisco earnings

Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) is expected to report earnings of 82 cents on revenue of $12.7 billion.