Earnings started rolling in with mixed results depending on the sector and company.
Retail sales also beat expectations last week, indicating that either the consumer is still strong or has transitioned to debt to keep up with increasing costs.
All of this culminated with the S&P 500 ($SPX) (SPY) closing the week up just under 1%.
This week coming up we have more earnings reports, an IMF Meeting, and a few other news releases.
Here are 5 things to watch this week in the Market.
Earnings
This is another big week for earnings reports with giants like Phillip Morris (PM), Verizon (VZ), and GE Aerospace (GE) out on Tuesday. Wednesday several other big names report, but eyes will mostly likely be on the Tesla (TSLA) earnings report after the bell. This stock is very actively traded so it has the possibility to really move the market if it comes out with a big beat or a big miss.
Thursday also has real potential to move the market with Amazon (AMZN) reporting earnings and guidance. Amazon takes a large portion of the retail market in addition to its web services division, so watching how they guide the individual sections of their business could supply valuable information about how they feel the economy will be in the coming months. Also, post CloudStrike there have been rumors that companies are returning to on-premises servers as opposed to cloud-based, so this could be reflected in their services revenue if true.
Existing Home Sales
New construction metrics fell across the board last week and with Existing Home Sales out this Wednesday it will be interesting to see if that trend continues into this market segment. A miss could signify slowing demand for housing as both prices and rates are slow to come down. A beat could be seen as a positive by the market in that higher rates aren’t affecting people's willingness to spend on a home.
Manufacturing and Services PMI
Both manufacturing and services PMI are due Thursday at 9:45 EST. This often causes some volatility in the futures and index representative stocks like the SPY and QQQ. Manufacturing has been showing contraction for months now, but services have been fairly robust. If both come in weaker than expected it could negatively impact the market, but if it's a mixed release or even both positive it's possible the market is unaffected by it.
IMF Meeting
The IMF is holding its semi-annual meeting in Washington DC this week and that could cause some volatility. They discuss the global economy, economic issues and outlooks, and various other items that they deem important. In addition to being open to the press, they also give comments and answer questions throughout the day and this could cause some volatility.
Election Season
It’s less than a month out from the US election and that is something to keep an eye on in terms of the overall market. Individual statements from the candidates may not move the market much, it's important to watch for economic, tax, and business plans from the candidates as they could impact the overall economy and the stock market.
Best of luck this week and don’t forget to check out my daily options article.
On the date of publication, Gavin McMaster did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
