ZACKS·2026-02-19 16:36Economic Indicators - Initial Jobless Claims reported at 206K, below the expected 223K and the revised previous week’s 229K, marking the lowest level since early January [2] - Continuing Claims increased slightly to 1.869 million from the revised 1.852 million, still historically low compared to the range of 1.90-1.98 million seen in 2025 [3] - U.S. Trade Deficit widened to -$70.3 billion, significantly worse than the expected -$56.0 billion, although it is about half of the level from March of the previous year [4] - Retail Inventories remained flat for December, down from the expected +0.1% but improved from the previous month’s -0.5% [5] - Philly Fed manufacturing index reached 16.3 for February, doubling expectations and marking the highest level since September of the previous year [6] Company Earnings - Walmart (WMT) reported Q4 earnings of 74 cents per share, beating expectations by a penny, with revenues of $190.66 billion, up year-over-year and exceeding expectations by +0.32% [9] - John Deere & Co. (DE) posted Q1 earnings of $2.42 per share on revenues of $8 billion, surpassing estimates by +26% and +5.2% respectively, with full-year guidance raised [11] - Etsy (ETSY) reported Q4 earnings of 92 cents per share, beating expectations by 4 cents, with revenues of $881.64 million slightly ahead of forecasts, leading to a +21.23% increase in shares during early trading [12]