Wall Street week ahead: Nvidia, Walmart earnings to guide US stock markets

As the economic calendar is fairly light in the week ahead, the major focus of the market participants on Wall Street will be on earnings reports from big names such as chip giant Nvidia Corp, retail heavyweights Walmart Inc and Target Corp.

Nvidia, the world’s most valued company by market capitalization will declare its third quarter results on November 20 that will be a gauge for the market’s appetite for tech and artificial intelligence stocks.

The next week will witness updates on the housing market, flash PMI data on the services and the manufacturing sectors.

After the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on future path of interest rates last week, several Fed speakers speeches scheduled in the week ahead will also grab some attention of the market participants.

On Thursday, Powell had suggested the US central bank may be cautious about future decisions on interest rates.

“The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates.”

Economic calendar

On November 18 (Monday), a report on Home Builder Confidence Index for November will be released.

On November 19 (Tuesday), data on housing starts for October will be released.

On November 21 (Thursday), separate reports on Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey, existing home sales for October, and leading economic index for October will be released.

On November 22 (Friday), separate reports on S&P flash US services PMI and S&P flash US manufacturing PMI for November, and consumer sentiment (final) for November will be released.

Earnings

Following companies are due to report third quarter earnings in the week ahead — Trip.com Group, Symbotic, AECOM, BellRing Brands, Brady Corp., Walmart, Lowe’s, Medtronic, Keysight Technologies, Viking Holdings, NVIDIA, TJX, Palo Alto Networks, Target, Snowflake, Intuit, Deere & Company, Ross Stores, Construction Partners, NetApp, BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, The Buckle, and Global Blue Group Holding.

Markets last week

US stocks closed lower on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 305.87 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 43,444.99, the S&P 500 lost 78.55 points, or 1.32 per cent, to 5,870.62 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 427.53 points, or 2.24 per cent, to 18,680.12.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield was steady at 4.44 per cent. The 2-year yield fell to 4.31 per cent from 4.36 per cent.