Thursday, January 16, 2020We see a plethora of economic data released ahead of Thursday’s regular trading open. Overall, results were mixed — however, taken in aggregate, they do not look to disturb the positive sentiment we currently see in the market, due largely to yesterday’s signing of a “phase one” trade deal between the U.S. and China.Retail Sales for the seasonally important month of December rose 0.3% — down 10 basis points (bps) from the +0.4% expected, but up 10 bps month over month from an unrevised +0.2%. Stripping out the volatility of auto sales, results were higher than expected: +0.7% versus +0.6%. Minus autos & gas: +0.5%, the same level we see the Control number at this morning. These results represent a healthy holiday shopping season, and are helping propel retail prospects into the current year.Initial Jobless Claims also came in better than expected: 204K on the headline was the lowest we’ve seen since the week of Thanksgiving, and is back toward the bottom end of our long-term 200-225K range, which is consistent with a robust domestic labor market. Continuing Claims, which had eked above 1.8 million for the first time since 2018, took a step back down, coming in at 1.767 million long-term jobless claims — also a strong number historically.The Import Price Index for December posted a +0.3% headline, up 120 bps from November. Subtracting volatile petrol costs, this number slides to +0.2%, with year-over-year “core” at +0.5% — in-line with expectations. Exports were -0.2%, a noteworthy downward swing from the expected +0.2%. Year over year exports came in at -0.7%, which was better than the previous read of -1.2%. Market bulls will point to yesterday’s trade agreement that might be expected to improve U.S. export numbers going forward.The Philly Fed survey for January is also out this morning, with a big 17 headline number — well outpacing the 4.0 expected, the 2.4 reported in December and the highest since May, when we saw a 17.5 headline. This rather volatile monthly read had been registering totals near the zero balance for 3 of the last 12 months, and haven’t been +30 on Philly Fed since 2017. But today’s bounce-back still counts as notably positive econ data for today.Morgan Stanley MS reported terrific Q4 earnings results this morning, with $1.20 per share far surpassing the 98 cents expected. Revenues in the quarter hit $10.86 billion, well ahead of the $9.52 billion, up 27% year over year. The giant investment firm posted record profits in quarterly revenues, with Investment Management up a whopping 98% year over year. Assets Under Management (AUM) are currently at $552 billion, up 19% year over year. Guidance has also been upped looking forward, and the stock is up 6% in the pre-market. For more on MS’ earnings, click here.Mark VickerySenior EditorQuestions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>> Today's Best Stocks from ZacksWould you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through Q3 2019, while the S&P 500 gained +39.6%, five of our strategies returned +51.8%, +57.5%, +96.9%, +119.0%, and even +158.9%.This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – Q3 2019, while the S&P averaged +5.6% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.1% per year.See their latest picks free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Morgan Stanley (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA): ETF Research Reports Invesco QQQ (QQQ): ETF Research Reports SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report