The New York Stock Exchange is set to open virtually unchanged on Thursday morning, with investors reacting unfavorably to the announcement of lower-than-expected retail sales in December.

Half an hour before the opening, the Dow Jones futures contract is down 0.3%, but the Nasdaq 100 is up 0.3%, suggesting a rather uncertain start to the session.

Retail sales rose less than expected last month (+0.4%), with fewer purchases of goods for the home, as well as spending in bars and restaurants.

These data suggest that consumption lost some of its positive momentum during the key holiday season, after rising by 0.8% in November.

These lower-than-expected figures do, however, raise the prospect of further rate cuts by the Fed, a prospect reinforced by the latest labor market indicators.

The Labor Department announced that 217,000 new jobless claims were registered last week, up 14,000 on the previous week.000 higher than the previous week.

The New York Stock Exchange finished sharply higher yesterday after the publication of lower-than-expected inflation figures, reinforcing the scenario of continued monetary easing this year.

Still on the macroeconomic front, import prices rose by 0.1% in December for the third month running, a figure which shows that inflationary pressures are now better under control.

Another indicator published before the opening was the Philly Fed index - which measures manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region - which rose vigorously from -10.9 in December to +44.3 in January, its highest level since April 2021.

The publication of all these statistics pushed up the yield on 10-year Treasuries slightly, to 4.67%, compared with 4.80% two days ago.

The corporate earnings season continued this Thursday morning with the publication of quarterly accounts by Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, which came in above expectations, as did those of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan yesterday.

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