key points
- The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets this week, and most attention will be on Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference after Wednesday’s decision.
- Apple, Amazon, AMD, Coca-Cola and McDonalds are among the companies expected to post gains this week.
- Friday’s jobs report will show whether the labor market will again expand more than expected.
The Federal Reserve’s policy meeting and Big Tech earnings will be the highlights of the week for investors as a new month begins.
The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday and is expected to keep its influential federal funds rate unchanged. However, attention will be on Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference after the meeting, as investors look for clues about when officials plan to cut rates.
On either side of the rate decision will be Big Tech earnings, with Amazon ( AMZN ) releasing its quarterly financials on Tuesday and Apple ( AAPL ) on Thursday. Other notable earnings reports this week include chip maker Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ), Coca-Cola ( KO ) and McDonalds ( MCD ).
The week concludes with the release of the US jobs report for April, where investors will be watching to see if the economy can continue to surprise with unexpected job growth.
Monday, April 29
- Dallas Texas Fed Manufacturing Outlook Survey
- NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), ON Semiconductor (ON), MicroStrategy (MSTR)Paramount Global (FOR), and Dominos Pizza (DPZ) report earnings
Tuesday, April 30
- The meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins.
- S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (February)
- Consumer confidence (April)
- American Express (AXP) Investor Day.
- AmazonCoca ColaMarathon Petroleum (MPC)Eli Lilly (LLY)Advanced microdevicesMcDonald’sStarbucks (SBUX)Stellantis (STLA)PayPal Holdings (PYPL), and GE HealthCare Technologies (GEHC) report earnings
Wednesday, May 1
- ADP Employment (April)
- Construction expenditure (March)
- ISM Manufacturing (April)
- Job offers (March)
- Federal Reserve interest rate decision
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference
- United Airlines Holdings (UAL) Investor Day.
- Viking Holdings’ initial public offering (IPO) is expected
- Mastercard (MA)Pfizer (PFE)CVS Health (CVS), Qualcomm (QCOM)Marriott International (MAR)Estee Lauder (EL)DoorDash (DASH), and Yum! Brands (YUM) report earnings
Thursday, May 2
- Initial Jobless Claims (Week Ending April 27)
- US trade deficit (March)
- US Productivity (First Quarter)
- Factory Orders (March)
- appleConocoPhillips (COP)Novo Nordisk (NVO)Shell (SHEL)Amgen (AMGN), and Reserva Holdings (BKNG) report earnings
Friday, May 3
- US Employment Report (April)
- ISM Services (April)
- Hershey (HSY) and CBRE Group (CBRE) report earnings
Saturday, May 4
- Annual meeting of shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A).
The Fed’s decision comes amid growing doubts about rate cuts
There is little doubt about the outcome of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting, as officials have stressed they need to see more improvement in inflation before voting to cut rates from the current decade-long 5.25 % to 5.5%.
Some Federal Reserve officials have already expressed doubts about the three rate cuts planned at the last meeting. All eyes will be on Chairman Jerome Powell’s post-meeting message for clues on the timing and number of expected rate cuts.
Another key economic indicator will be Friday’s jobs report. Employers added more jobs than economists expected in March, and investors will be watching to see if that strength extends into April.
Amazon, Apple and AMD lead this week’s earnings report
Earnings reports will play a big role in markets this week, with quarterly financial updates coming from a number of prominent technology, healthcare, consumer, energy and financial companies. Berkshire Hathaway will also host its annual shareholder meeting on Saturday.
On Monday, Bitcoin investor MicroStrategies’ earnings release comes amid a surge in the cryptocurrency and its recent halving event.
E-commerce giant Amazon reports Tuesday in its first financial data release since becoming a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Thursday’s Apps report will give investors more insight into product sales, as recent reports showed iPhone sales falling in China. Investors will also be closely watching chipmaker AMD’s report on Tuesday.
Several reports from the company will provide indications of the strength of the US consumer, including Dominos Pizza on Monday, McDonalds and Coca-Cola on Tuesday, KFC parent Yum! Brands on Wednesday and Hershey on Friday.
Major healthcare companies also report this week, with Eli Lilly and GE HealthCare on Tuesday, and Amgen and Novo Nordisk on Thursday.
Investors will hear from Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett on Saturday as part of the conglomerate’s annual shareholder event, where he is expected to discuss the economy’s first-quarter results and trends. company
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