· European stocks slipped lower on Thursday after a flurry of earnings results was superseded by disappointing U.S. retail data.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed provisionally 0.23 percent lower in trade after rallying earlier in the Thursday session.
· The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower on Thursday following the release of much weaker-than-expected retail sales data.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.27 percent to 2,745.72 as the consumer staples and financials sectors lagged. The 30-stock Dow pulled back 103.88 points to 25,439.39 as shares of Coca-Cola had their worst day since2008. The Nasdaq Composite, however, eked out a gain of 0.1 percent to close at 7,426.95 as Netflix's stock climbed more than 2 percent.
Retail sales fell 1.2 percent in December, marking their biggest monthly drop since September 2009, according to The Commerce Department. The department also said retail sales fell 0.9 percent in December when excluding gasoline station sales.
· "This number was terrible," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, in a note. "The US consumer is holding the global economy on its shoulders. After seeing today's data, we better hope it was a one month outlier and that the rebound in stocks in January and month to date will revive consumer spending."
· Stocks in Asia saw declines on Friday morning, following the overnight release of U.S. retail data which saw the sector seeing its biggest drop in nearly a decade.
Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 1.26 percent in early trade while the Topix shed 1.19 percent. Shares of Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group declined around 1 percent.
South Korea's Kospi declined 0.99 percent as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics and chipmaker SK Hynix both fell more than 2 percent.
Reference: CNBC
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