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Five of the Magnificent 7 stocks report earnings. (0:17) A Fed cut is considered a dead certainty. (1:52) Trade tensions ease with Asia, ramp up with Canada. (2:30)
The following is an abridged transcript:
As the sound of Spaghetti Western music echoes on Wall Street, two groups of gunslingers face off: Five of the Magnificent 7 and Jay Powell’s Posse.
Normally it would be a fair fight for investor attention, but this time around the Fed looks outgunned. Earnings from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) are sure to provide more to trade on than a foregone decision from a Fed stuck in a data desert because of the government shutdown.
Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft kick things off Wednesday, with Apple and Amazon up Thursday.
Wedbush bull Dan Ives says Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon saw strong AI enterprise demand for the quarter based on field checks and 3Q tech earnings will be “another validation moment with a doubling down on aggressive initial cap-ex numbers into 2026.”
Tech stocks can rally another 7% into the end of the year as results convince investors this is 1996 and not 1999, he adds.
So far, 29% of the S&P 500 has reported Q3 results, with 87% beating profit expectations. Along with the Mag 7 names, another 170 S&P companies weigh in this week.
Among other big names on the calendar:
Waste Management (WM), Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP), Brown & Brown (BRO), FTAI Aviation (FTAI) and F5 Networks (FFIV) report on Monday.
On Tuesday, Visa (V), UnitedHealth (UNH), NextEra Energy (NEE), Booking (BKNG), UPS (UPS), PayPal (PYPL) and MSCI (MSCI) issue numbers.
Caterpillar (CAT), ServiceNow (NOW) and Boeing (BA) are up on Wednesday.
Thursday brings Eli Lilly (LLY), Mastercard (MA) and Reddit (RDDT).
Exxon Mobil (XOM), AbbVie (ABBV), Chevron (CVX) and Charter Communications (CHTR) are due Friday.
Now back to the Fed that’s flying blind. All of Wall Street expects the FOMC to cut rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, to a range of 3.75-4%.
While Friday’s CPI numbers showed September core inflation rising to 3%, it was softer than expected, paving the way for the Fed cut. Still, any guidance on future moves will be tough without corresponding labor market data that’s absent as the shutdown persists.
Skyler Weinand of Regan Capital says once the government does reopen, evidence of a rise in the unemployment rate near 5% could lead to a half-point cut in December — or prompt the Fed to telegraph a string of cuts in 2026.
And let’s not forget the grip trade and tariffs still have on the markets.
On Thursday the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit kicks off with President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping expected to meet face-to-face to address trade disputes.
Senior U.S. and Chinese officials reported “constructive” progress in weekend trade talks.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said negotiators had “a successful framework” for the leaders’ discussion, following two days of meetings in Kuala Lumpur. Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang described the talks as yielding a “preliminary consensus” on key disputes.
Bessent also confirmed that China intends to make “substantial” purchases of U.S. soybeans, seen as a goodwill gesture.
But as relations thaw in Asia, they grow frostier in the Great White North.
On Saturday, Trump said he would boost the tariff rate on Canadian goods by another 10% because of Ontario’s TV ad featuring former President Ronald Reagan opposing tariffs. It was unclear if Trump meant by 10% or 10 percentage points.
Also in the news this weekend, Novartis (NVS) is in advanced discussions to acquire Avidity Biosciences (RNA),
Bloomberg reported that the Swiss pharma company is preparing to offer more than $70 a share. Avidity closed at $49.15 Friday, giving the company a market value of about $6.8 billion.
And for income investors, Citizens Financial (CFG) and Cal-Maine (CALM) go ex-dividend Wednesday. Citizens pays out on Nov. 12 and Cal-Maine pays out the day after that.
Morgan Stanley (MS) and Realty Income (O) go ex-dividend on Friday. Both pay out on Nov. 14.