Gains in Retail Sales to Reflect Gas Prices. Goldman Sachs Posts Earnings

The 2.5% gain in the markets on Monday was the biggest gain in six weeks, virtually wiping away losses from the previous five days combined. This morning, ahead of two major macroeconomic releases at 8:30, stock futures look poised to hold on to those gains with Dow futures up 11 points to 8270 and S&P 500 futures up 1 point to 896.6.

Goldman Sachs has had analysts buzzing in the past few days ahead of its release of Q2 earnings. The consensus looks for the bank to have made more than $2 billion from March to June, and expectations have been bolstered after the usually bearish Meredith Whitney upgraded her forecast well above the median prediction. Goldman posts earnings at 830am.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is once again in the news after he told an audience in Saudi Arabia that the US recognizes it “has a special responsibility to play” in the world economy,” while stating a “gradual recovery” was on the way.

“The United States was on an unsustainable fiscal path before this crisis, and we will not succeed in establishing sustainable recovery without a credible commitment to address our long term deficits,” he added, reflecting on the $1.1 trillion budget deficit that’s been built up in the first nine months this fiscal year.

And now, on to the data…

8:30 â€