The Dow Industrial Average is trying to close higher for the 10th consecutive day today. The S&P index is in positive territory after falling yesterday. The NASDAQ index is trading back higher by 34 points after giving up a gain of 115.71 points earlier in the day and trading down as much as -29.09 points.
Looking ahead to next week, in addition to the FOMC rate decision on Wednesday, the ECB will announce its rate decision on Thursday and the Bank of Japan on Friday. The Fed and the ECB are expected to increase by 0.25 basis points, while the BOJ is expected to remain unchanged once again.
Flash PMI data will be released on Monday in Europe and the US. Australian CPI will be released on Wednesday (Tuesday night in the US). The advanced US GDP for the Q2 will be released on Thursday. PCE inflation data will be released in the US on Friday.
There will also be a number of key earnings releases from some of the large-cap stocks including Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Apple will release its earnings the following week (on August 3).
Below is the schedule of the major releases next week
Monday, July 24
- Domino’s pizza
- Whirlpool
Tuesday, July 25
- Alphabet
- Microsoft
- 3M
- General Electric
- General Motors
- Visa
- Dow
Wednesday, July 26
- Meta-platforms
- Boeing
- Chipotle
- Coca-Cola
- Qualcomm
- ServiceNow
- General Dynamics
Thursday, July 27
- Amazon
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Intel
- McDonald’s
- Honeywell
- Northrop Grumman
- MasterCard
- Ford Motor Company
Friday, July 28
- Procter & Gamble
- Chevron
- Exxon Mobile
- Colgate-Palmolive
As far as the Big 4 releasing next week – Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Amazon – earnings and revenue forecasts show:
Microsoft:
- Expected Q4 EPS: $2.55 up 14.3% YoY from $2.23.
- Expected Q4 Revenue: $55.48 billion up 7% YoY.
- Previous quarter performance: surpassed both EPS and revenue expectations.
- Comments: Best quarter anticipated in Microsoft’s 48-year history, with strength attributed to the cloud business and AI initiatives.
Alphabet:
- Expected Q2 EPS: $1.34 up 10.7% YoY from $1.21.
- Expected Q2 Revenue: $72.66 billion up 4% YoY.
- Previous quarter performance: revenue and earnings topped estimates after four straight quarters of missing expectations.
- Comments: Benefits from ongoing cost-cutting measures contributing to EPS growth.
Meta Platforms:
- Expected Q2 EPS: $2.88 up 17.1% YoY from $2.46.
- Expected Q2 Revenue: $31 billion (up 7.6% YoY).
- Previous quarter performance: unexpected increase in revenue following three quarters of declines.
- Comments: Digital advertising market showing signs of improvement.
Amazon:
- Expected Q2 EPS: $0.34 improvement from a loss of $0.20 per share in Q2 2022.
- Expected Q2 Revenue: $131.3 billion up 8.3% YoY.
- Comments: Performance bolstered by cost-saving measures, cloud computing, and advertising businesses.
Apple will announce on August 3. The earning expectations shows:
Apple:
- Expected Q2 EPS: $1.19 down 0.8% YoY from $1.20.
- Expected Q2 Revenue: $81.77 billion down 1.4% YoY.
- Comments: Slowing demand for high-end smartphones and computers negatively impacting earnings and revenue.