Yahoo Finance Jobs report, FOMC meeting, earnings — What to know in the week ahead
As earnings season continues to rage on this week, investors will also shift their focus on the economy. On Tuesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will be kicking off its two-day meeting, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at the conclusion of the event on Wednesday. Consensus among economists remains that the FOMC will hold short-term interest rates steady at 2.25%-2.50%.
“Inflation has softened in the intermeeting period, and expectations are building that the next move will be down rather than up. Incoming inflation data will guide the Fed’s discussion as well as Powell’s Q&A,” Morgan Stanley wrote in a note Friday. “We continue to see the Fed on extended hold into the first half of next year—boxed in as it balances a desire to get inflation higher with financial stability concerns from allowing financial markets to heat up.”
Then on Friday, the Labor Department will be releasing the April jobs report. Economists are expecting the U.S. economy to have added 185,000 jobs during April, down from the 196,000 added in March, according to data complied by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate is predicted to have stayed unchanged at 3.8%.
“Although payroll employment rose by solid 196,000 in March, following a probably weather-related 33,000 increase in February, the trend growth rate appears to be slowing. The three-month average gain fell to a 16-month low of 180,000 last month. It’s also notable that the alternative household survey measure shows a more pronounced drop off in employment growth,” Capital Economics wrote in a note Friday. “That slowdown is partly due to the recent weakness in global manufacturing. U.S. manufacturing employment contracted last month and we expect further declines.”
On the corporate earnings front, several heavyweights will be releasing their financial results including Alphabet (GOOGL) on Monday and Apple (AAPL) Tuesday.
Analysts are expecting Alphabet to post earnings of $13.11 per share on $30.04 billion of revenue and earnings of $2.37 per share on $57.57 billion of revenue for Apple. Despite the recent slowing iPhone demand woes, Apple shares are currently trading within striking distance of the key $1 trillion market cap milestone. Investors will be paying close attention to see if Apple can rocket back toward that level this week.
Earnings calendar
Monday: Restaurant Brands (QSR), Spotify (SPOT) before market open; AK Steel (AKS), Alphabet (GOOGL), MGM Resorts (MGM), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Tenet Healthcare (THC), Western Digital (WDC), Yum China (YUMC) after market close
Tuesday: Blue Apron (APRN), ConocoPhillips (COP), Eli Lilly (LLY), General Electric (GE), Incyte (INCY), Mastercard (MA), McDonald’s (MCD), Merck (MRK), Pfizer (PFE), Shopify (SHOP) before market open; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Amgen (AMGN), Apple (AAPL), Groupon (GRPN), Mondelez (MDLZ), Twilio (TWLO) after market close
Wednesday: Clorox (CLX), CME Group (CME), CVS Health Corporation (CVS), Dine Brands (DIN), Estee Lauder (EL), Hilton Worldwide (HLT), Humana (HUM), Molson Coors (TAP), Royal Caribbean (RCL), Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG), Yum Brands (YUM) before market open; Apache (APA), Avis Budget (CAR), Ceasars Entertainment (CZR), Fitbit (FIT), Hyatt Hotels (H), Marathon Oil (MRO), Qualcomm (QCOM), Square (SQ), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) after market close
Thursday: Church & Dwight (CHD), Cigna (CI), Discovery (DISCA), DowDuPont (DWDP), Dunkin Brands (DNKN), Kellogg (K), Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A), Sprout’s Farmers Market (SFM), Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA), Under Armour (UAA), YETI (YETI) before market open; Activision Blizzard (ATVI), CBS (CBS), Expedia (EXPE), Gilead (GILD), Shake Shack (SHAK), U.S. Steel (X), Weight Watchers (WW) after market close
Friday: Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) before market open
Economic calendar
Monday: Personal Income, March (0.4% expected, 0.2% prior); Personal Spending, March (0.7% expected)
Tuesday: Employment Cost Index, Q1 (0.7% expected, 0.7% prior); MNI Chicago PMI, April (59.0 expected, 58.7 prior); Pending Home Sales month-on-month, March (0.5% expected, -1.0% prior); Conf. Board Consumer Confidence, April (126.8 expected, 124.1 prior)
Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Applications, week ending April 26 (-7.3% prior); ADP Employment Change, April (180,000 expected, 129,000 prior); Markit US Manufacturing PMI, April (52.4 expected, 52.4 prior); ISM Manufacturing, April (55.0 expected, 55.3 prior); ISM Prices Paid, April (55.0 expected, 54.3 prior); Construction Spending month-on-month, March (0.2% expected, 1.0% prior)
Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims, week ending April 27 (215,000 expected, 230,000 prior); Continuing Claims, weekend ending April 20 (1.655 million prior); Durable Goods Orders, March (2.7% prior); Factory Orders, March (1.1% expected, -0.5% prior); Durable Goods Orders excluding Transportation, March (0.4% prior)
Friday: Wholesale Inventories month-on-month, March (0.2% expected, 0.2% prior); Change in Nonfarm Payrolls, April (185,000 expected, 196,000 prior); Change in Manufacturing Payrolls, April (13,000 expected, -6,000 prior); Unemployment Rate, April (3.8% expected, 3.8% prior); Markit US Services PMI, April (52.9 expected, 52.9 prior); Markit US Composite PMI, April (52.8 prior); ISM Non-Manufacturing Index, April (57.0 expected, 56.1 prior)
