Earnings, Fed, And Jobs Report By Investing.com

by Daniel Shvartsman

Despite high-profile earnings report misses, a central bank surprise decision, and uninspiring economic data, markets pushed higher to close out October. The leading U.S. indices – , , and – each set all-time high closes. European indices moved higher as well, and cryptocurrency trading saw a bevy of spikes and all-time highs. That market optimism will be tested from all sides this week, as a slew of corporate earnings, non-farm payrolls, and a Fed meeting that is expected to signal the start of QE tapering.

Here’s what you need to know to start your week.

1. Earnings Season Rolls On

Earnings continue to be the main story in stock markets around the world. While many of the biggest names have already reported, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) being top performers last week and Apple (NASDAQ:), Amazon (NASDAQ:), and Facebook (NASDAQ:) – Meta – lagging, a much wider swath of companies will update on Q3 this quarter.

Those include:

• Travel companies such as RyanAir (LON:) (Monday), Air Canada (TSX:) (Tuesday), Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:) (Wednesday), Expedia (NASDAQ:) (Thursday), and Amadeus IT (MC:) (Friday).
• Commodity producers or related companies such as ConocoPhillips (NYSE:) (Tuesday), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:) (Monday), Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:) (Monday), Mosaic Co (NYSE:) (Monday), CF Industries (NYSE:) (Wednesday), EOG Resources (NYSE:) (Thursday), Dominion Energy Inc (NYSE:) (Friday), and Enbridge (NYSE:) (Friday)
• Tech companies from e-commerce to semiconductors to software, such as NXP Semiconductor (NASDAQ:) (Monday), Arista Networks (NYSE:) (Monday), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:) (Tuesday), Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:) (Wednesday), Etsy (NASDAQ:) (Wednesday), Datadog Inc (NASDAQ:) (Thursday), Skyworks (NASDAQ:) (Thursday), Carvana Co (NYSE:) (Thursday),and Wayfair (NYSE:) (Thursday).
• Industrials and Pharmas such as Pfizer (NYSE:) (Tuesday), T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:) (Tuesday), Eaton (NYSE:) (Tuesday), Cummins (NYSE:) (Tuesday), Emerson (NYSE:) (Wednesday), Humana (NYSE:) (Wednesday), CVS Health (NYSE:) (Wednesday), Toyota Motor Corporation ADR (NYSE:) (Thursday), and Honda Motor Co Ltd ADR (NYSE:) (Friday).

Supply chain issues and inflation will of course be on investors’ minds as they watch these reports, as well as how much the Q3 U.S. growth slowdown hit these companies, and what that means for their respective outlooks. As companies lap pandemic affected quarters, figuring out what is the new normal for companies that are either recovering or were big 2020 winners will also be on the docket.

2. Non-farm payrolls

After October’s disappointing and the muted number, November’s will test the strength of the U.S. economic recovery. Expectations are for 385K new jobs, after the NFP missed expectations in each of the last two months.

Whether that lull was temporary and due to either the summer delta variant surge or supply chain issues remains to…