You can't call what happened with stocks last week a huge win, but it was a win.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index finished the week up 1.5% at 6,114.63. The index flirted with but failed to hit a new 52-week high. It came within a point or so of hitting a new closing high, but that bid to bust through 6,118.71 faded in the last 15 minutes or so of Friday's trading.
The Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.6% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%.
The fact is the markets had a lot of stuff to deal with all week, including:
President Trump's plan to announce reciprocal tariffs on Thursday. (He announced a study to decide what the tariffs should be.)
Continued moves to fire thousands of federal employees and concerted legal filings intended to derail the administration's plans.
Federal Reserve Jerome Powell reiterated in testimony before the Senate and House that he saw no great reason to cut the Fed's key interest rate. Getting U.S. inflation to 2% keeps running into more data suggesting price pressures are stubborn.
And for every boffo earnings report like Palantir's (PLTR) report last week, there was an offset like a disappointing report on retail sales on Friday.
A note: U.S. financial markets are closed Monday for the Presidents Day Holiday.
The stock market was fueled for much of 2024, mostly by technology stocks, especially the Magnificent Seven stocks.
This year, there's really just a Magnificent One: Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META) , which was up 3.1% this past week and is up 25.8% just in the first six weeks of 2025. Much of that gain has come as Meta has risen for each of the past 20 trading days, rising 20.5% in the process. And don't forget: Meta was up 65% in 2024.
True, Meta is not a tech stock in the eyes of the Standard & Poor's. It's a communications services stock, along with T-Mobile (TMUS) , up 23% this year and Netflix (NFLX) , up 18.8%.
The S&P 500's technology sector is only up 1.6% this year. There will be much interest when Nvidia reports earnings after the close on Feb. 26. The chip giant was up nearly 7% last week, the best performance of any Mag 7 stock. But so far this year, it's up just 3.4%.
It's another big week for earnings, but fewer of the giant stocks are reporting results.
Here are some of the biggest reports that may move markets.
Medtronic earnings estimates
Earnings: Before Tuesday's open. Market capitalization: $119 billion. Stock price: $92.81, up 0.7% on Friday. Up 16.2% in 2025 and up 3.5% since the Nov. 5 election. Earnings estimate: $1.36 a share, up 4.6% from a year ago. Revenue estimate: $8.3 billion, up 3% from a year earlier.
Medtronic (MDT) is a global medical technology company that make therapies and equipment to treat more than 30 chronic diseases. Its biggest business is its diabetes business. It makes insulin pumps and glucose monitors. There has been concern that weight-loss drugs from Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY) could hurt its business. It is now listed as an American-Irish company after buying an Irish company and re-chartering the company in Ireland and reaping big tax breaks.
Visitors experience Medtronic Hugo RAS robot-assisted surgery system at a medical trade show in Shanghai, ChinaCFOTO/Getty Images
Walmart earnings estimates
Earnings: Due before Thursday's open. Market capitalization: $835.8 billion. Stock price: $104.04, down 1% on Friday. Up 15.1% in 2025 and 24.3% since the Nov. 5 election. Up 72% in 2024. Earnings estimate: 64 cents a share, up 6.7%. Revenue: $178.7 billion, up 3.1%.
Walmart (WMT) is a global colossus, operating more than 10,000 stores in 19 countries through its Walmart Superstores and Sam's Club warehouse stores. It has some 2.1 million employees. It competes against Costco Wholesale (COST) , Target TGT and others. Walmart, Costco and Amazon.com (AMZN) now generate 17% of total U.S. retail sales, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Supermarkets have struggled to compete with Walmart, Costco, and others. Their market share dropped from two-thirds of food bought for home to 54% at the end of 2023.
Walmart has invested heavily in technology and marketing to higher-end consumers, and the strategy seems to be working.
The shares trade at 38 times forward earnings. And, measured by relative strength index, the shares are a bit overbought in the current environment.
Earnings: Due before Thursday's open. Market capitalization: $166.95 billion. Stock price: $5,044.40, up 0.7% on Friday. Up 1.5% in 2025 and 2.6% since the Nov. 5 election. Up 40% in 2024. Earnings estimate: $35.75 a share, up 11.7%. Revenue: $5.19 billion, up 8.6%. The current price target is $5,307.15.
Booking (BKNG) , based in Norwalk, Conn., was founded as Priceline.com by Jay Walker in 1996. The company has expanded, often by acquisition. Its holdings now include Priceline.com, Kayak.com, Cheapflights, Rentalcars.com and Open Table. With more than 24,000 employees, Booking operates in 200 countries and works in 40 languages.
Booking is basically a pure-play travel company, and business has been great for the last two or three years. Its chief rival is probably Expedia (EXPE) .
If something happens to travel, Booking has problems. Revenue, in fact, fell by more than 50% in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
As of February, thirty-nine analysts were covering the company. Six rate Booking a strong buy, with 20 rating it a buy and 13 rating it a hold.
Earnings: Due after Thursday's close. Market capitalization: $106.97 billion. Stock price: $2109.99, up 2.1% on Friday. Up 24.1% in 2025 but up 1% since the Nov. 5 election. Up 8.2% in 2024. Earnings estimate: $7.51 a share, up 131%. Revenue: $5.85 billion, up 37.3%. The current price target is $2,250.13.
MercadoLibre (MELI ) is often described as Amazon.com or eBay in Latin America.
Founded by Marcus Galperin, the company is chartered in Delaware, headquartered in Uraguay, and has some 250 million users in South America and 60.8 million unique buyers. It does more than sell stuff like Amazon. It also operates exchanges where users can buy and sell goods to one another. They use its payments arm, the Economist noted, to pay for everything from roadside snacks to soccer tickets.
Its market capitalization is believed to be the second-largest in South America after Petrobras, the Brazilian oil giant.
Galperin was educated at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Stanford Business School. He started the business, fittingly in a Silicon Valley garage in 1999. The company hit break even in 2005.
Analysts like the stock. Twenty-one of 24 analysts rate the stock a buy or strong buy. The rest are hold.
Also reporting this week
Tuesday
Arista Networks (ANET) , after the close. Networking.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) , after the close. Oil and gas. Major holding of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) .
Diageo (DEO) , before the open. Beverages, wine and liquor.
Wednesday
HSBC Holdings, (HSBC) , before the open. Global banking.
Carvana (CVNA) , national used-car dealer. After the close.
Texas Pacific Land (TPL) , oil and gas producer. A top S&P 500 performer in 2024. After the close.
Thursday
Southern Company (SO) , electric utilities. Before the open.
