Earnings season — which starts roughly two weeks after the end of each calendar quarter — has a set pattern.
It starts mostly with banks and financial firms, then works its way through energy stocks and then retailers big and small, including Walmart (WMT) , Target (TGT) and Costco Wholesale (COST) .
In the middle of the sequence comes the week of Big Tech reports — from five of the most valuable U.S. companies. They're all in technology. All sport market capitalizations of $1 trillion or more — will be issuing reports.
The five companies represent about 25% of the total market value of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
Add in the market cap of Nvidia (NVDA) , the percentage jumps to roughly 30%. Nvidia's next earnings report comes on Nov. 20.
The five stocks on tap had a fantastic first-half as many investors couldn't get enough of anything related to artificial intelligence.
After a mid-summer sell-off in July, they recovered in September. But they've been basically flat in October, but traders don't see much that could spook markets.
Nvidia, however, has jumped 16.6% this month. On Friday, the shares hit $144.13, briefly topping Apple as the most value company. Reason: Enthusiasm over the rollout of its Blackwell family of graphic processing units, the chief drivers of AI expansion.
Tesla (TSLA) shares jumped 22% on Friday because of a bullish third-quarter report and guidance.
A look at the 5 giants on tap this week
Alphabet, Oct. 29
Oct. 25 close: $165.27
Stock price chg.: YTD: 18.3%. Chg. in October: -0.4%
Market Cap: $2.05 trillion
Qtr. earnings estimate (avg.): $1.84. Year ago: $1.55.
Qtr. revenue estimate (avg.): $86.3 billion. Year ago: $76.7 billion.
Alphabet (GOOGL) , parent of Google and YouTube, has seen its advertising business, about two thirds of revenue, strengthen this year. Risks include geopolitical tensions, conflicts between the company and non-U.S. regulators, including the European Union. The Justice Department has charged the company with antitrust violations and may seek to break Alpha up.
Microsoft, Oct. 30
Oct. 25 close: $428.15
Stock price chg. YTD: 13.9%. Chg. in October: -0.5%.
Market Cap: $3.18 trillion
Qtr. earnings estimate (avg.): $3.09. Year ago: $2.73.
Qtr. revenue estimate (avg.): $64.5 billion. Year ago: $49.7 billion.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares jumped nearly 19% in the first half of 2024 but have slipped as the AI mania eased. A big question is how much it expects to spend on AI applications and how they will affect the company's core cloud and related businesses.
Stock price chg. YTD: 61.95%. Chg. in October: 0.1%.
Market Cap: $1.44 trillion
Qtr. earnings estimate (avg.): $5.24. Year ago: $4.00.
Qtr. revenue estimate (avg.): $40.3 billion. Year ago: $33.6 billion.
Shares of Facebook-parent Meta ( (META) ) have jumped nearly 62% this year because its huge investments in AI-related fields have helped its advertising business. Analysts are betting the AI spending will produce more profits. They'll want to know when.
Meta logo displayed on a laptop screen and Facebook logo displayed on a phone screen.
NurPhoto/Getty Images
Apple, Oct. 31
Oct. 25 close: $231.41
Stock price chg. YTD: 20.2%. Chg. in October: -0.7%.
Market Cap: $3.52 trillion
Qtr. earnings estimate (avg.): $1.55. Year ago: $1.36.
Qtr. revenue estimate (avg.): $94.4 billion. Year ago: $83.6 billion.
Apple's (AAPL) most recent quarter, the fourth of its fiscal year, ended at the end of September. It's now rolling out its iPhone 16 device. Reports so far have suggested orders are light. The shares peaked at $237.49 on October 15 before slipping. CEO Tim Cook will work hard to convince investors the iPhone rollout is succeeding. Pay attention to how Apple's services business is doing.
Amazon.com, Oct. 31
Oct. 25 close: $187.83
Stock price chg. YTD: 18.3%. Chg. in October: 0.8%.
Market Cap: $1.97 trillion
Qtr. earnings estimate (avg.): $1.14. Year ago: $0.86.
Qtr. Revenue estimate (avg.): $157.2 billion. Year ago: $141.4 billion.
Amazon (AMZN ) shares are up 18.3% this year reflecting investor confidence. The shares have not moved much in October. The company's challenge will be to describe how consumers are feeling just now. Expect questions about how much its dealing with new AI technologies.
Also reporting this week
In fact, nearly 1,000 U.S. companies are reporting results this week.
These include some huge non-tech companies like Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) and (BRK.B) , due after Friday's close. Berkshire's market is very near $1 trillion.
Pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly (LLY) also are scheduled to report.
Lastly, two of the biggest oil companies, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) , report on Friday.
The big economic reports this week
Three big events are ahead:
The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge. Due Thursday, it measures changes in prices on consumer goods and services.
The Labor Department's weekly report on jobless claims, also due Thursday.
Due Friday: The Labor Department's October jobs report, the month's biggest economic report. In September, the government pegged the unemployment rate at 4.1% and said payroll jobs jumped 254,000 — larger than expected. Revisions included in the new report will be studied closely.
Yes, the election may weigh on markets
The Nov. 5 election looks close, and Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are ramping up for the final push.
If the outcome is not clear on Election Night, the battle could go on for some time — with lawsuits galore. That may make predicting market performance over the balance of 2024 and beginning 2025 tricky.
A little history: The S&P 500 rose 14.9% in the last two months of 2020. (The index rose 5.3% after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.)
And there's a Fed meeting ahead
The day after the election, a Federal Reserve meeting starts. The key question: Will the Fed cut its key rate again. Interest rates have gone up since the Fed's September 18 decision.
A theory is that bond investors are concerned about growing federal deficits, no matter the election winner.
