U.S. Stocks Slip on Lackluster Retail Sales; J.C. Penney Beats Estimates

U.S. stocks moved slightly lower on Friday, following record closes on Thursday for the three major stock indexes. Investors parsed weaker-than-expected consumer spending data. Retail sales remained unchanged in July, while analysts had expected a 0.4 percent increase. In June, retail sales rose 0.8 percent. Core retail sales, which doesn't include autos, gas and food, also showed no growth in July. 'I think there's a lot of uncertainty out there,' said David Lebovitz, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, based in New York. 'We saw economic growth slow in both the first and second quarter, down from that two percent pace that we had been averaging thus far in the expansion.' Meanwhile, J.C. Penney (JCP) - Get Report posted a quarterly loss of $0.05 a share, while analysts had expected a loss of $0.15 a share. Same store sales rose 2.2 percent for the second quarter, compared to first quarter's 0.4 percent decline. Twitter (TWTR) - Get Report said rumors that it would be shutting down in 2017 were 'groundless.' The speculation was sparked on Twitter on Thursday with the hashtag #SaveTwitter. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from Wall Street.