New York, Feb 8, 2026, 11:01 (EST) — The market is shut.
- Home Depot picked up 0.7% Friday—not quite keeping pace with the wider Wall Street bounce.
- Focus shifts to U.S. inflation and jobs figures, both capable of steering rate outlooks and impacting the housing market.
- Next up: Home Depot reports later this month, offering a read on demand and margins.
Home Depot shares edged up 0.7% to close at $385.15 on Friday, not making much of a splash despite a rally in the wider market.
The lag is significant at this point, since the home-improvement chain remains a relatively clear gauge for U.S. housing turnover and appetite for major renovations. As a new week kicks off, traders are scanning for signs: Are homeowners starting to spend more, or are they holding back once again?
Home Depot’s been sounding the alarm for months—high borrowing costs and stubborn home prices are freezing out potential buyers, leaving bigger-ticket projects in the dust. Back in December, CFO Richard McPhail told investors there was “not yet seen a catalyst or an inflection in housing activity,” despite the company rolling out its fiscal 2026 outlook. (Reuters)
Wall Street shrugged off the wait for a catalyst on Friday. The Dow finished over 50,000 for the first time ever, while the S&P 500 surged close to 2%. Chipmakers climbed, investors betting on more AI infrastructure spending. Amazon, though, slipped after laying out its own investment plans. (Reuters)
Home Depot’s gain lagged the broader market. Lowe’s tacked on 1.2% Friday. The consumer-discretionary ETF—which includes a slate of major retailers—rose 0.4%. SPY, the S&P 500 stand-in, was up almost 2%.
Home-improvement stocks won’t have to wait long—signals from the macro calendar are on the way. The Labor Department drops its January jobs numbers Feb. 11, 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Then, just two days later, January’s CPI inflation data lands at the same hour. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Home Depot investors care less about total sales, and more about comparable sales, that crucial same-store metric which factors out store openings and closures. Average ticket size, customer traffic, and trends in the pro segment are also under the microscope. Margins, how aggressive promotions get, and inventory discipline—all on the radar, too.
Lowe’s stands out as the obvious benchmark here, yet the signal goes further—think building products, toolmakers, and those slices of consumer discretionary that usually move with the tide of rate sentiment and home equity confidence.
A straightforward risk: should inflation run higher than forecasts, or the jobs numbers beat expectations, bets on rate cuts might fade fast. Mortgage-rate pressures could ramp right back up—just what’s kept big-ticket remodeling projects unpredictable. Any note of caution on demand would only add to that.
Home Depot is up next with its quarterly numbers, set to hit Feb. 24 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. Investors will be chasing details on the fiscal 2026 framework—and hoping for hints that the long-expected housing “inflection” is actually starting to play out in stores. (ir.homedepot.com)
