Earnings season is now well under way, with a number of major companies due to release results in the coming week.
Investors will continue to keep a close eye on US president Donald Trump's trade tariff plans, as well as what is on the wider policy agenda for his third week back in office.
Market focus will remain on earnings from major tech companies, in the wake of the sell-off in artificial intelligence-related stocks on the back of Chinese firm DeepSeek's release of a cost-effective AI model, which sparked concerns around the level of spending by US giants.
Data analytics software firm Palantir will kick off the week's key earnings releases on Monday, with investors focused on how its AI platform is contributing to the business.
Investors will be looking at Disney's latest earnings to see if the company can continue to deliver growth in profits from its streaming business.
In the pharmaceuticals sector, Novo Nordisk is due to report, coming off the back of some positive developments for its weight-loss drugs.
Fellow pharma giant AstraZeneca is also set to release full-year results, with investors waiting to see if it will meet upgraded guidance.
Investors also cheered the e-commerce giant's guidance for the fourth quarter, with the company expecting net sales to come in at between $181.5bn and $188.5bn.
"Investors will also be tuned in for updates on AWS’s AI initiatives and the eye-popping investment Amazon (AMZN) plans to spend in the space," he added.
Shares in Palantir (PLTR) were among those tech names that fell in the sector's broader sell-off on concerns about AI spending in the US, given its developments in the space.
The stock quickly recovered and is back to trading near all-time highs, with shares up 375% over the past year alone.
Palantir (PLTR) rallied on the back of its third quarter earnings, which were released a day before the US election in November. The stock continued to surged following the election, becoming one of the stocks considered to be part of the "Trump trade", as investors bet on increased defence spending under Trump, which is a key part of Palantir's business.
In the third quarter, Palantir (PLTR) posted revenue of $725.5m, which topped estimates. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.10 also beat expectations.
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The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $2.805bn and $2.809bn, as well as upping its adjusted income from operations estimate to between $1.054bn and $1.058bn.
For the fourth quarter, Palantir (PLTR) guided to revenue of between $767m and $771m. The company said it expected adjusted income from operations to come in between $298m and $302m.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said: "Palantir has become a standout in the AI revolution, capturing attention with its innovative data-driven products and a CEO who knows how to tell a compelling story.
"While its growth potential is exciting, the key question is whether it can deliver earnings fast enough to justify its steep valuation – around 150 times next year’s expected earnings," he said. "This sets high stakes for next week’s fourth quarter results, where nothing shy of perfect execution will be tolerated."
Britzman added that a "spotlight will be on Palantir's (PLTR) AI platform, with investors eager to see how it’s driving enterprise adoption and converting pilot programs into full-scale deals".
Shares in Disney (DIS) slumped in the first half of last year but had rebounded by the end of 2024, with the stock jumping on the back its fourth quarter earnings in November.
Disney (DIS) posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.14, besting estimates of $1.10, while revenue of $22.57bn also came in ahead expectations of $22.47bn.
The company's direct-to-consumer streaming business was a highlight in the results, as operating income of $321m marked a turnaround from the $387m Disney (DIS) reporting in the prior-year period.
Key film releases also provided a boost for the media copmany, with it highlighting that Pixar's Inside Out 2 and Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine "broke numerous box office records and helped drive $316m in operating income at content sales/licensing and other" in the fourth quarter.
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Disney (DIS) also offered strong earnings growth guidance for the next couple of years, adding to investor optimism.
The media and entertainment giant said it expected adjusted earnings per share growth in the high-single digits in the 2025 fiscal year and was targeting $3bn in stock repurchases.
For the entertainment direct-to-consumer business, Disney (DIS) said it expected to report an operating income increase of approximately $875m compared with 2024, though it did anticipate a modest decline in Disney+ subscribers in the first quarter versus Q4.
For the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years, Disney (DIS) expected double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said: "Disney's (DIS) performance in recent years has been a far cry from the fairytale management investors were hoping for. But after years of hard work and investment, things may just be about to turn. Growth in streaming profits at the likes of Disney+ are finally at a point where they can more than offset declines in linear TV."
"Alongside a much-improved content slate and reduction in customers switching to peers, its competitive position is looking much stronger," he said.
Novo Nordisk's (NOVO-B.CO) shares jumped after it revealed positive results from its trial of weight-loss drug amycretin.
The Danish pharmaceuticals giant said that its trial showed that people treated on the highest dose of 20mg of amycretin saw an estimated body weight loss of 22% over 36 weeks.
The US Food and Drug Association (FDA) has also approved the use of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic weight-loss drug for reducing the risk of kidney failure and disease progression.
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However, shares are still down 18% over the past year, with the stock having tumbled in December, after trial results for its weight-loss drug CagriSema disappointed against expectations.
Investors will be looking closely at the latest results from Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B.CO) – which is also behind Wegovy – as competition in the weight-loss drug market heats up.
In the third quarter, Novo Nordisk said sales of Wegovy had jumped 79% year-on-year, though the results as a whole were mixed.
Net sales of DKK71.3 billion (£7.98bn) were up 21% year-on-year, while net profit of DKK27.3 billion was also 21% than the third quarter of 2023.
However, the company narrowed its sales growth guidance for the full year to between 23% and 27%, versus previous expectations of 22% to 28%.
In other developments in the pharma sector, the European Medicine Agency said on Friday that it had recommended the Datroway breast cancer treatment from AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co. (4568.T) for approval in the European Union.
AstraZeneca (AZN.L) CEO Pascal Soriot said in the company's third quarter results that revenue and earnings growth reflected increased demand for its medicines across the oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease areas.
The company posted 18% growth in total revenue in the third quarter, at $13.6bn, while reported earnings per share of $0.92 was up 20% for that period.
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On the back of these figures, AstraZeneca (AZN.L) raised its 2024 fiscal year guidance for revenue and core earnings per share to expectations of high-teens percentage growth.
AJ Bell's (AJB.L) investment experts Russ Mould, Danni Hewson and Dan Coatsworth said: "AstraZeneca’s shares stumbled in the second half of 2024 as markets (and the pharmaceuticals industry) digested the possibility that Donald Trump would return to the White House and try to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services.
"However, the share price bottomed on 7 November, two days after Trump’s election victory, and quickly got a boost from the third-quarter results for 2024, when AstraZeneca (AZN.L) raised guidance for last year yet again."
Given that guidance upgrade, they said that the company was expected to report total revenue of $51.3bn for 2024, while core earnings per share was anticipated to come in at $8.27.
Monday 3 February
Mizuho Financial (8411.T)
Hoya (7741.T)
Murata (6981.T)
NXP Semiconductors (NXPI)
Tyson Foods (TSN)
Clorox (CLX)
Rambus (RMBS)
Tuesday 4 February
Crest Nicholson (CRST.L)
Vodafone (VOD.L)
Staffline (STAF.L)
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (8306.T)
Nintendo (7974.T)
UBS (UBSG.SW)
BNP Paribas (BNP.PA)
Intesa SanPaolo (ISP.MI)
Dassault Systems (DSY.PA)
Infineon Technologies (IFX.DE)
Coloplast (COLO-B.CO)
Publicis (PUB.PA)
Merck (MRK)
PepsiCo (PEP)
AMD (AMD)
KKR (KKR)
Pfizer (PFE)
Amgen (AMGN)
Spotify (SPOT)
PayPal (PYPL)
Mondelez (MDLZ)
Ferrari (RACE)
Simon Property (SPG)
Cummins (CMI)
Marathon Petroleum (MPC)
Super Micro Computer (SMCI)
Estée Lauder (EL)
Wednesday 5 February
Pressure Technologies (PRES.L)
DCC (DCC.L)
Toyota Motor (7203.T)
KDDI (9433.T)
TotalEnergies (TTE.PA)
Banco Santander (SAN.MC)
Equinor (EQNR.OL)
Credit Agricole (ACA.PA)
Assa-Abloy (ASSA-B.ST)
Alfa Laval (ALFA.ST)
ARM (ARM)
Uber (UBER)
Microstrategy (MSTR)
Emerson Electric (EMR)
Metlife (MET)
Johnson Controls (JCI)
Ford (F)
Yum! Brands (YUM)
Thursday 6 February
Compass (CPG.L)
Anglo American (AAL.L)
Watches of Switzerland (WOSG.L)
Tokyo Electron (8035.T)
Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL.NS)
L’Oréal (OR.PA)
AP Møller-Maersk (MAERSK-B.CO)
Siemens Healthineers (SHL.DE)
ING (INGA.AS)
Eli Lilly (LLY)
Linde (LIN)
Philip Morris (PHPMF)
Honeywell (HON)
ConocoPhillips (COP)
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)
Thomson Reuters (TRI)
Motorola (MSI)
Hilton Worldwide (HLT)
Fastenal (FAST)
Roblox (RBLX)
Hershey (HSY)
Take-Two Interactive (TTWO)
Microchip (MCHP)
Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR)
Friday 7 February
NTT (9613.T)
Honda Motor (7267.T)
Mediatek (2454.TW)
Danske Bank (DANSKE.CO)
Saab (SAAB-B.ST)
Banco Sabadell (SAB.MC)
Skanska ska-b (SKA-B.ST)
Schibsted (SCHA.OL)
Yara (YARO.OL)
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