The earnings calendar is looking quieter in the last full week of trading before Christmas but there are still a number of companies releasing results.
Much of the market focus will be on the final interest rate decisions of the year from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
On the company earnings front, Nike will release its first set of results with a new CEO at the helm.
Meanwhile, AI chipmaker Micron's latest results come on the back of news that it secured a $6bn subsidy from the US government.
Read more: UK economy shrinks unexpectedly by 0.1% in October
Investors will be looking at Accenture's earnings to see if the professional services firm is continuing to benefit from the AI boom.
Delivery giant FedEx is also due to report, with markets hoping to see an improvement on the previous quarter.
Iconic sandal maker Birkenstock is due to report its first set of full-year results since it listed in New York more than a year ago.
Here's more on what to look for:
Shares in sportswear brand Nike have slumped on the back of its previous earnings releases this year, with the stock down 28% year-to-date.
In the first quarter results, released in at the beginning of October, Nike posted revenues of $11.59bn (£9.15bn), which fell short of analyst estimates of $11.65bn and was also 10% lower compared to the same period last year.
While the company reported first-quarter earnings per share of $0.70, which beat Wall Street estimates of $0.52, this was still 26% lower than last year.
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Nike also withdrew its full-year guidance and said it was postponing its investor day, amid the transition of CEO, as Elliott Hill who took over from John Donahoe on 14 October.
Since the changeover, Nike has announced extensions of key sports partnerships, with the NBA, WNBA and the NFL, among others.
In a recent note, Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) analysts said: "We don't expect to see much benefit from improved product innovation and newness at Nike in 2025, expecting this will take the new CEO some time, and flow through to benefit performance before lifestyle.
"We are also cognisant of 'brand rotation' within the consumer's wallet, rather than this necessarily being incremental top line."
Last week, Bank of America reiterated its "buy" rating on Nike but lowered its price target on the shares from $100 to $95.
NYSE - Delayed Quote • USD At close: April 3 at 4:00:02 PM EDT
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that AI chipmaker Micron had secured a $6.1bn subsidy from the US Department of Commerce for the build-out of semiconductor manufacturing plants within the US.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Commerce said the funding would support Micron's two-decade plans to invest around $100bn in New York and $25bn in Idaho, which will create approximately 20,000 jobs.
The department said this would help the US grow its share of advanced memory manufacturing from less than 2% currently to around 10% by 2035.
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These efforts to invest in chipmaking domestically, come as trade tensions in this space intensify between the US and China.
US president Joe Biden's administration recently announced broader semiconductor export restrictions aimed at limiting China's access to advanced chips.
In terms of what to expect from Micron's latest results, the chipmaker forecast first quarter revenue of $8.7bn, which was ahead of the $8.3bn forecast by analysts.
Micron logged revenue of $25.1bn in its full-year results, released at the end of September, which was up from $15.5bn in the previous year.
Shares jumped after the release of its last set of results, though the stock has been volatile this year, leaving it 15% in the green year-to-date.
NasdaqGS - Delayed Quote • USD At close: April 3 at 4:00:01 PM EDT
Professional services firm Accenture is another company benefitting from the global push in AI, as more non-technology firms look to build this into their business models to remain competitive.
Accenture said in its fourth quarter results that its new business bookings in AI had reached $1bn, which was up from $900m in the third quarter. For the year, the company's generative AI new bookings totalled $3bn.
In October, Accenture and chipmaking giant Nvidia (NVDA) announced that they had expanded their partnership, as part of efforts to scale businesses' AI adoption.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview with CNBC that he considered Accenture to be the “connecting fabric” between its technology and customers
For the first quarter, Accenture said it expected revenue to come in between $16.85bn and $17.45bn, which would be an increase of 2% to 6%.
As for the full-year ahead, the company said it was expecting revenue growth of between 3% to 6%, and earning per share of $12.55 to $12.91.
Accenture also said it expected to return at least $8.3bn in cash to investors through dividends and share buybacks.
Shares in Accenture slumped going into the summer, meaning the stock is only nearly 3% in the green year-to-date.
NYSE - Delayed Quote • USD At close: April 3 at 4:00:02 PM EDT
Shares in delivery giant FedEx plummeted in September after a much-worse-than-expected quarterly report.
FedEx, which is considered as a bellwether for the US economy, logged profits of $892m in its fiscal first quarter, which was 24% lower than what analysts were expecting.
The company also lowered its financial outlook for the fiscal year ahead, projecting earnings per share between $20 and $21 versus its prior range of $20 to $22.
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The results were released a day after the Fed announced its bumper 0.5% interest rate cut but said the economy remained strong.
In an analyst call after the results release, FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam said that magnitude of this cut "signals the weakness of the current environment".
And FedEx executive attributed the company's weaker performance to inflation-squeezed customers shifting away from paying higher fees for its priority shipping.
Since the first quarter results release, however, FedEx shares have seen some recovery with the stock up 12% year-to-date.
In fact, investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) upgraded its rating on FedEx to "buy" last week, raising its price target on the stock from $370 to $420.
NYSE - Delayed Quote • USD At close: April 3 at 4:00:02 PM EDT
Shares in Birkenstock have had a volatile first year on the market, though the stock is still up nearly 31% since it debuted on the New York stock exchange in October last year.
The stock fell sharply following the release of its third quarter results, which fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Birkenstock reported a 19% increase in revenue year-on-year to €565m (£468m) in the third quarter, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in 15% higher at €186m.
Oliver Reichert, CEO of Birkenstock, said the company had recorded its highest quarterly revenue in its history in the third quarter.
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During the third quarter, the company opened seven new stores, taking its total to 64 shops.
For the year, the German sandal maker reiterated previous guidance of revenue growth of 20% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 30% to 30.5%.
While shares fell after the release of the third quarter results, Stifel (SF) managing director Jim Duffy told Yahoo Finance that he believed this was a "temporary setback in the stock".
"Those companies like an On Running (ONON), like Birkenstock that are bringing excitement to the marketplace," he said. "We think they can continue to drive growth."
This week, investment bank UBS (UBSG.SW) reiterated its "buy" rating on the stock but lowered its price target on shares to $83 from $85.
NYSE - Delayed Quote • USD At close: April 3 at 4:00:02 PM EDT
Monday 16 December
Videndum (VID.L)
Tuesday 17 December
Bunzl (BNZL.L)
Hollywood Bowl (BOWL.L)
Chemring (CHG.L)
Capita (CPI.L)
ThyssenKrupp Nucera (NCH2.DE)
Heico (HEI)
Wednesday 18 December
General Mills (GIS)
Jabil (JBL)
Thursday 19 December
Serco (SRP.L)
Carnival (CCL)
Darden Restaurants (DRI)
CarMax (KMX)
BlackBerry Limited (BB)
You can read Yahoo Finance's full calendar here.
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https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/portfolios
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