During the pre-Wall Street open, U.S. Retail Sales (May) numbers hit the newswires. The report came in a bit ambiguous and has thus far confused equities traders. For the first half-hour of action, the DJIA DOW (-95), S&P 500 SPX (-10), and NASDAQ (-50) are in the red.

All in all, today’s U.S. economic metrics don’t look too bad. Nonetheless, traders are choosing to focus on the negatives and limit risk heading into the weekend break. Here is a quick look at the figures from earlier:

Event                                                        Actual     Projected       Previous

Retail Sales (May)                                     0.5%            0.6%               0.3%

Retail Sales Control Group (May)           0.5%            0.4%              0.4%

Industrial Production (MoM, May)        0.4%            0.2%              -0.4%

Unfortunately for equities bulls, we are in the midst of a pessimistic news cycle. A good number of investors and analysts are growing skeptical over stock market valuations, principally due to the ongoing trade war. However, aside from inflation, performance is strong across the gamut of U.S. metrics. Today’s U.S. Retail Sales report is another example of a solid report being ignored by the markets ― at least in the early going.

NASDAQ Falls Following U.S. Retail Sales Report

June E-mini NASDAQ futures are in heavy rotation near the 7500.00 handle. At least for now, the daily 62% Fibonacci retracement (7516.75) is holding firm as topside resistance.

Here are the levels to watch as the session wears on:

• Resistance(1): 62% Macro Wave Retracement, 7516.75
• Support(1): Bollinger MP, 7404.75
• Support(2): Daily SMA, 7309.75

Overview: Today’s close is going to be interesting. Thus far, gold is up, stocks are down, and sentiment is quickly souring on risk. If we see investor angst continue to grow, the NASDAQ has a decent shot of returning to the 7525.00 level.