Day Ahead: 3 Things to Watch for August 14

(C) Reuters.

By Christiana Sciaudone

Investing.com — Markets mostly went south Thursday as the U.S. Senate went on vacation. There’s no coronavirus relief package in sight as lawmakers are out until September.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were down, while the NASDAQ Composite closed up.

Without further stimulus, many fear the recovery in the economy will likely fade. Value stocks – those tied to the progress of the economy – added downside pressure to the market, paced by weakness in energy and financials.

Here are three things that may move markets tomorrow:

1. Economic data

U.S. retail sales are likely to have increased in July, though nowhere near the May and June jumps. The forecast for the month is that sales rose 1.9% to May’s 18.2% and June’s 7.5%. The report is expected at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT).

2. Earnings

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) is expected to report a loss per share of 20 cents on sales of $64 million. Shares of the fantasy sports betting provider may be lacking in actual games to bet on, but investors have pushed shares up more than 225% since the start of 2020.

Speaking of no games, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp (NYSE:MSGS) is set to publish a loss per share of $4.43 on sales of $18.8 million.

3. Tensions on tap

On Saturday, the U.S. and China are set to sit down and review the terms of their phase one trade deal activated on Feb. 15. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will participate in the video meeting, Reuters reported.

Under the first phase, China pledged to boost purchases of U.S. goods by some $200 billion over 2017 levels, but because of coronavirus-driven sinking of the global economy, it has had a hard time doing so. There may also be talk of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to ban Chinese apps, including TikTok.