What's on the economic calendar

We would be getting December US retail sales today along with business inventories. It's a release that covers the most-critical shopping period for the US customer as fresh questions arise about consumer health. I believe Black Friday has pulled forward some spending in a secular trend that boosts November spending at the expense of December and this year's strong November report set that up nicely. In any case, we won't get an answer until the shutdown ends.

We will get import/export prices at the bottom of the hour, the NAHB housing market index (1500 GMT), weekly oil inventories (1530 GMT) and the Fed's Beige Book (1900 GMT).

The main event on the day will be the confidence vote in May which should come shortly after 1900 GMT.

The Canadian calendar is bare.

For more, see the economic calendar.