Dow Hits New High Ahead of January Jobs Report: Stock Market Today

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Stocks were mixed Tuesday as market participants took in the latest round of earnings reports and looked ahead to tomorrow morning's delayed release of the January jobs report. Ahead of this key update on the labor market – and the first Consumer Price Index (CPI) report of the year, due out on Friday – Wall Street took in a weak December retail sales report.

According to the Census Bureau, retail sales were "virtually unchanged" from November to December, and were up 2.4% from the year prior. Economists expected a 0.4% monthly rise.

The report, which was delayed due to last fall's record-long government shutdown, showed that "spending surely stalled" in December, says Chip West, director of category strategy at RR Donnelley.

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But West adds that higher total retail sales from the October-through-December period "support the view that while holiday shopping was strong, more consumers likely got an early jump and spent more in subsequent months, taking advantage of the great deals retailers put forth."

The retail sales report did little to change market expectations for interest rates, though the upcoming job and inflation data could. At last check, CME Group FedWatch suggests betting odds for the next rate cut are in June, with the Federal Reserve expected to keep rates unchanged in March and April.

Datadog leads S&P 500 stocks after earnings

In single-stock news, Datadog (DDOG, +13.7%) flew to the top of the S&P 500 today after the cloud-based security platform reported earnings.

For its fourth quarter, the company said earnings were up 20.4% year over year to 59 cents per share, while revenue rose 29.2% to $953 million. Additionally, customers who spend $1 million or more annually grew 30% in 2025, while those who spend $100,000 annually increased 19%.

DDOG's top- and bottom-line results both came in higher than analysts expected, though the company's full-year revenue guidance of $4.08 billion came up short of Wall Street's forecast of $4.1 billion.

Quest Diagnostics jumps on earnings, dividend hike

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) was another post-earnings gainer, jumping 7.4% after the diagnostics testing firm reported a fourth-quarter beat and gave solid full-year guidance.

The company also said its board of directors approved a 7.5% dividend hike, marking the 15th straight year that DGX has increased its payout.

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"Shares in companies that raise their payouts like clockwork decade after decade can produce superior total returns (price change plus dividends) over the long run," writes Kiplinger contributor Dan Burrows in his feature on the best dividend stocks for dependable growth.

He adds that a company with a long history of annual dividend growth offers "some peace of mind … demonstrating both its financial resilience and its commitment to returning cash to shareholders."

Coca-Cola gets downgraded after earnings

On the negative side of today's ledger was Coca-Cola (KO), which slid 1.5% after the soft drink maker's quarterly report.

For the three months ending December 31, KO said earnings rose 6% year over year to 58 cents per share, while revenue grew 2% to $11.8 billion. The results beat on the bottom line, though it marked the company's first quarterly revenue miss since Q4 2020.

For 2026, Coca-Cola expects earnings per share and revenue to be up 4.5% and 7.5%, respectively, at the midpoint of guidance.

CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson downgraded the Dow Jones stock to Hold from Buy after earnings.

"Following the stock's strong performance so far in 2026, we view KO's risk/reward potential as more balanced and its valuation as fair," Nelson says. "While we remain bullish on the growth prospects of KO's fairlife ultra-filtered milk brand and recognize expected earnings benefits from the weaker U.S. dollar, we now believe the stock's recent performance is reflecting these positives."

As for the main indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 50,188 – a new record high – while the S&P 500 (-0.3% at 6,941) and the Nasdaq Composite (-0.6% at 23,102) closed modestly lower.

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With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at a local investment research firm. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.