STOCKS TICK UP: Here's what you need to know

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David W Cerny/Reuters

A man climbs an artificial wall of ice in the city of Liberec, Czech Republic, January 12, 2017.

Stocks ticked up on Friday after a slew of economic data.

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The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed up, while the Dow finished slightly negative.

First up, here's the scoreboard:

  • Dow: 19,874.36, -16.64, (-0.08%)
  • S&P 500: 2,273.59, +3.15, (0.14%)
  • Nasdaq: 5,572.28, +24.76, (+0.45%)
  • US 10-year yield: 2.387%, +0.026
  • WTI Crude: $52.45, -0.56, (-1.1%)

1. Americans have never been this conflicted about the economy's direction. Various surveys of consumer and business confidence have shown decisive improvement in sentiment since the election. But Republicans are a lot more excited than Democrats, according to the University of Michigan.

2. Retail sales jumped in December on strong car sales and online shopping. Retail sales increased by 0.6% in December from a revised 0.2% pace in November. "Consumers are actually in pretty good shape," said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas.

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3. Wells Fargo missed on earnings in its first full quarter since its accounts scandal. The bank reported earnings per share of $0.96 on revenue of $21.58 billion on Friday. Those numbers were lower than the $1.00 and $22.45 billion that analysts were expecting.

4. JPMorgan beat on earnings, and had a record-breaking quarter. Meanwhile, Bank of America beats on the bottom line, but missed on the top line.

5. The oil rig count fell for the first time in nearly 3 months. The number of active oil rigs fell by seven to a total of 522. One gas rig was added, taking that total to 136.

6. Trump's tweets are driving millennials to make a rookie investing mistake. In a survey of 904 people, E-Trade found that 60% of those ages 25 to 34 had traded off a Trump tweet. "Older investors have lived through many more market environments, and they are cognizant of the fact that what the president-elect says is much less meaningful in the longer term," said Mike Loewengart, E-Trade's vice president of investment strategy.

ADDITIONALLY:

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