"It should give us a sense whether the consumer really wants to open up their pocket book," said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P/Capital IQ.
Stocks were barely changed Thursday. The Dow was up 40 at 17,652, while the S&P was up 1 at 2,039, and the Nasdaq rose 5 to 4,680 .But the small cap Russell 2000 lagged. The Russell was off 11 at 1175.
Read MoreOil collapses as OPEC stands back and US booms
The energy sector was the worst performer, as West Texas Intermediate fell $2.97 a barrel to $74.21. It was down 1.4 percent, but the consumer discretionary sector rose 0.6 percent and was the second best performer. Wal-Mart was up 4.7 percent Thursday.
"I think the market is basically just trying to catch its breath after hitting five consecutive all-time highs," Stovall said
Prices at the pump fell to a national average of $2.91 per gallon Thursday, down from $3.19 a month ago. But RBOB gasoline futures on the Nymex told an interesting story. The January contract settled $1.98, the first close below $2 since Sept., 2010.
What to watch
Besides U.S. data, traders are watching GDP in the eurozone. There are also three Fed speakers. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard speaks at 9:10 a.m. EST, and Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and Gov. Jerome Powell are on a panel at 4 p.m. EST.
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