Wall Street faces its most action-packed week and that too just before the crucial 2024 US Presidential election. Five of the massive Seven will release earnings. This includes Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple.
Investors are also watching for key economic data like the jobs report, inflation metrics, and Q3 GDP, as market jitters rise ahead of the election. The crypto market opened the week on a good note as its cumulative cap surged marginally with major digital assets printing green indexes. The fear and greed index also reflected “Greed” sentiment holding above 70 points.
Busy week ahead
A huge week ahead of a very busy November is packed with earnings and Key economic metrics on deck. Tuesday, October 29 will see the Conference Board (CB), the US Consumer Confidence Index data with JOLTs Jobs Data.
Next in line is the third quarter (Q3) gross domestic product (GDP), ADP employment for October. This data will be released on October 30, Wednesday. However, October 31, Thursday would bring in data on the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index for October and the US employment cost index for Q3.
Friday’s October jobs report, the Thursday PCE inflation metric, and Q3 GDP are seen as the key signals for the market. It is expected that 140,000 jobs will be added, easing inflation to 2%, and GDP growth to remain steady at 2.1%.
Volatility rises as big tech prepares for earnings
Five of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants report earnings will build the momentum ahead for all sorts of markets. Alphabet on Tuesday, Microsoft and Meta on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday. Analysts expect earnings growth for these mega-caps at 18% YoY, down from 35% last quarter which signals tempered investor excitement. Meanwhile, high valuations have cooled some of the buzz.
The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s ‘fear gauge, spiked above 20 as stocks and bonds hint at unease. Bond yields have climbed too with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting 4.25% before easing.
Despite Big Tech’s forecasted strength, the other 493 S&P 500 companies are projected to barely grow earnings at 0.1%. Goldman Sachs warns that high concentration in the major seven could trim market returns over the next decade to just 3% annually.
It will be decisive to see where the crypto market will move. Bitcoin, the biggest digital asset, has recorded a dump of almost 2% in the last 7 days but maintained a strong ground above the $67,000 mark. The BTC price jumped by 1.18% over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin is trading at an average price of $67,892, at press time.
Ethereum, the biggest altcoin, has seen some hard weeks as its price dropped by 9% in the last 7 days and is now down by 25% in the past 30 days. ETH is trading at an average price of $2,468, at press time.
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