Wall Street & The White House

@ The White House

In the morning, the President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and then meet with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

Later, the President and the Vice President will hold a meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping of the People?s Republic of China in the Oval Office to discuss a broad range of bilateral, regional, and global issues.

In the afternoon, the President will do a round of regional interviews to continue discussing his plan to help responsible homeowners. The President will sit down with anchors from KLAS, Las Vegas, Nevada ; WAGA, Atlanta, Georgia; WFLA, Tampa, Florida; and WBTV, Charlotte, North Carolina. These interviews are embargoed until 5PM EST.

Later in the afternoon, the President will meet with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in the Oval Office.

@ Wall Street

Retail Sales (Jan.) Light vehicle unit sales advanced 4.7% in January to their highest level since August 2009, and should be a strong contributor to overall sales growth. Sales ex-autos should rise 0.7%, after declining 0.2% in December.

Part of the increase just reflects higher gasoline prices, but sales ex-autos and ex-gasoline should also rise, up 0.5% after a flat December.

Chain stores reported faster sales gains in January, and building materials stores should have been helped by unseasonably mild weather. Although consumers still face considerable headwinds, the improvement on the jobs front is helping the outlook for consumer incomes and spending.