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Wall Street might be nursing a bit of a data hangover after last week’s bonanza of mega-cap tech earnings and the Federal Reserve’s final rate meeting under Jerome Powell. But in financial markets, there’s no rest for the investor.
At a Glance
• The news: The corporate earnings calendar takes a breather and the spotlight shifts to Friday's release of the April employment report.
• The context: With the war in Iran raising oil prices, inflation fears are back. The question is whether the job market is holding up. If it is, the Fed could keep rates high to fight off new inflation pressures.
• Your move: If Friday's data shows the labor market is heating up — enabling the Fed to focus on inflationary pressures — be prepared for some turbulence in interest-rate-sensitive assets like bonds and growth stocks. Conversely, pressure in the job market could offer a buying opportunity in those same areas as rate-cut hopes revive.
Friday brings the April jobs report, and as usual, it’ll get a lot of attention from investors. For a while, the U.S. labor market had been in a bit of a holding pattern, oscillating between job losses and job gains. The economy added a better-than-expected 178,000 jobs in March, however, suggesting that the economy might be accelerating despite the recent surge in fuel prices.
Another strong month of labor data could extinguish any remaining hopes for interest rate cuts, especially given how some Fed officials voted at last week’s meeting. It could even intensify discussions of rate hikes.
On the earnings front, Uber and Disney are among a handful of prominent industrial and consumer-facing companies slated to report this week. The lineup of 129 companies accounts for 11% of the S&P 500’s market cap. (For comparison, last week was an all-out sprint, with 182 companies comprising 51% of the S&P 500’s market cap reporting.)
On the Docket
Monday
• March Factory and Durable Goods Orders: These metrics give insight into underlying trends for leading cyclical indicators.
• Earnings
• Major companies: Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX)
• Others: Williams Companies (WMB), Diamondback Energy (FANG), ON Semiconductor (ON), Loews (L), Tyson Foods (TSN), Pinnacle West Capital (PNW), Paramount Skydance (PSKY), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH)
Tuesday
• March Trade Balance: Trade, made up of exports and imports, is an important driver of economic activity.
• April S&P Global US PMIs: These indexes track how purchasing managers across different industries feel about the business environment.
• April ISM Services PMI: This index from the Institute for Supply Management tracks how purchasing managers across different services industries feel about the business environment.
• March New Home Sales: While only a minority of home transactions in any given month come from new constructions, these home prices tend to be more cyclical and give insight into developing trends.
• March Job Openings: A key measure of business demand for labor is the number of job openings, since reducing openings is easier and preferable to layoffs.
• Earnings
• Major companies: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Arista Networks (ANET), Eaton Corp (ETN), Pfizer (PFE)
• Others: Duke Energy (DUK), Cummins (CMI), KKR & Co (KKR), Emerson Electric Co (EMR), EOG Resources (EOG), American Electric Power (AEP), Marathon Petroleum (MPC), TransDigm Group (TDG), Lumentum Holdings (LITE), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Corteva (CTVA), Electronic Arts (EA), Rockwell Automation (ROK), PayPal (PYPL), IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX), Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG), WEC Energy Group (WEC), Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Prudential Financial (PRU), Fiserv (FISV), Devon Energy (DVN), Ameren (AEE), Waters (WAT), Coterra Energy Inc (CTRA), IQVIA Holdings (IQV), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), DuPont de Nemours (DD), Leidos Holdings (LDOS), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Amcor PLC (AMCR), Ball (BALL), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Jacobs Engineering Group (J), Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), Aptiv (APTV), Assurant (AIZ), Solventum (SOLV), Physicians Realty Trust (DOC), Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY), Gartner (IT), DaVita (DVA), Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), PerkinElmer (RVTY), Henry Schein (HSIC)
Wednesday
• April ADP Employment Report: This survey, usually released a day or two before the official government jobs report, offers insight into private sector employment trends.
• US Treasury Quarterly Refunding Announcement: The Treasury Department updates its debt issuance projections, with the release including details on what maturities the government plans to raise funds from. This release is closely watched by fixed income investors.
• Weekly Mortgage Applications: Mortgage activity gives insight on demand conditions in the housing market.
• Earnings
• Major companies: Disney (DIS), Uber (UBER), AppLovin (APP), CVS Health (CVS)
• Others: Marriott International (MAR), Johnson Controls International (JCI), DoorDash (DASH), Apollo Global Management, Inc (APO), Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc (WBD), Fortinet (FTNT), Realty Income (O), AmerisourceBergen (COR), Coherent Corp (COHR), MetLife (MET), Exelon (EXC), TKO Group Holdings Inc (TKO), NRG Energy (NRG), Axon Enterprise (AXON), Atmos Energy (ATO), Texas Pacific Land Corp (TPL), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Eversource Energy (ES), NiSource (NI), Albemarle (ALB), CF Industries Holdings (CF), Global Payments (GPN), CDW (CDW), PTC (PTC), Trimble (TRMB), Host Hotels & Resorts (HST), APA Corp (APA), Insulet (PODD), Bio-Techne (TECH)
Thursday
• April Challenger Job Cuts: The firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas tracks the number of layoff announcements each month by sector.
• 1Q Productivity and Unit Labor Costs: These measures provide a breakdown of how productive workers were per hour of work and at what cost.
• March Construction Spending: Construction data is a leading indicator of business activity.
• April New York Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations: This is a measure of peoples’ expectations for inflation, jobs prospects, earnings growth, and more.
• March Consumer Credit: Borrowing activity gives insight into broader economic activity.
• Earnings
• Major companies: McDonald's (MCD), Gilead Sciences (GILD)
• Others: McKesson (MCK), Howmet Aerospace (HWM), Airbnb (ABNB), Motorola Solutions (MSI), Republic Services (RSG), Sempra Energy (SRE), WW Grainger (GWW), Targa Resources (TRGP), Vistra Energy (VST), Coinbase (COIN), Microchip Technology (MCHP), Zoetis (ZTS), Datadog (DDOG), Becton Dickinson and Company (BDX), Block, Inc. (XYZ), Consolidated Edison (ED), Kenvue Inc. (KVUE), Expedia Group (EXPE), Tapestry (TPR), Mettler-Toledo International (MTD), Corpay (CPAY), Evergy (EVRG), Viatris (VTRS), News (NWS), News (NWSA), Akamai Technologies (AKAM), NortonLifeLock (GEN), Trade Desk (TTD), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Charles River Laboratories International (CRL), EPAM Systems (EPAM)
Friday
• April Employment Situation Summary: This monthly blockbuster release from the Labor Department gives a comprehensive look at employment, wages, and hours worked in the previous month.
• May University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment: How consumers feel about economic conditions affect their spending habits. This survey places a particular focus on inflation and its trajectory.
• March Wholesale Inventories and Sales: Wholesalers often operate as an intermediary between manufacturers and retailers, serving as a key part of the goods supply chain.
• Earnings: Monster Beverage (MNST), EchoStar (SATS), PPL (PPL), Fidelity National Information Services (FIS)
Note: Companies with at least $100 billion in market capitalization are shown in the “Major companies” sections.
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