The Week Ahead: US CPI, Earnings for WMT, HD, BABA And CSCO
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All eyes are on Wednesday's scheduled U.S. retail sales and consumer price index (CPI) reports. Both readings have the potential to move the needle significantly in terms of Federal Reserve interest rate cut expectations, especially after those odds ticked up recently following the central bank's latest monetary policy decision and favorable labor market data.
The earnings season will continue to chug along this week, with investors receiving results from retail titans Walmart ($Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT$ ) and Home Depot ($Home Depot, Inc. HD$ ). Other notable names that will report include Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba ($Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Sponsored ADR BABA$ ) and networking giant Cisco ($Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO$ ).
Also of interest next week will be 13F filings - regulatory disclosures by major funds of their quarterly equity ownership changes. Finally, the artificial intelligence race could see some notable developments, with Microsoft-backed ($Microsoft Corporation MSFT$ ) OpenAI expected to announce some updates on Monday, and Alphabet's ($Alphabet Inc. Class C GOOG$ ) ($Alphabet Inc. Class A GOOGL$ ) Google hosting its annual developer conference.
Earnings spotlight: Monday, May 13 - Petrobras (PBR), Tencent Music (TME), and Agilysys (AGYS).
Earnings spotlight: Tuesday, May 14 - Home Depot (HD), Alibaba (BABA), Sony (SONY), Tencent Holdings (OTCPK:TCEHY), and Flutter Entertainment (FLUT).
Earnings spotlight: Wednesday, May 15 - Cisco Systems (CSCO), Grab Holdings (GRAB), Spire Global (SPIR), and Hut 8 (HUT).
Earnings spotlight: Thursday, May 16 - Walmart (WMT), Applied Materials (AMAT), Deere (DE), JD.com (JD), Baidu (BIDU), Take-Two Interactive (TTWO), and Under Armour (UAA).
Volatility watch: Options trading volume is elevated on Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) and AMC Entertainment (AMC). Short interest moved even higher over the last week on TG Therapeutics (TGTX) and Eos Energy Enterprises (EOSE). The most overbought stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Vital Farms (VITL), Power Nickel Inc. (OTCQB:PNPNF), and Primo Water (PRMW). The most oversold stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Sprout Social (SPT), Titan International (TWI), and CVS (CVS). In the EV sector, investors will be watching to see how ZEEKR (ZK) performs in its first full week of trading.
IPO watch: Online casino gaming content provider Games Global (GGL), Chinese education services company JIADE (JDZG), and medication management firm Kindly MD (KDLY) are expected to price their IPOs and begin trading next week. The analyst quiet periods end for Centuri Holdings (CTRI), Ibotta (IBTA), Tungray Technologies (TRSG), Serve Robotics (SERV), Mingteng International (MTEN), Junee (JUNE), Top Wealth Group Holding (TWG), and mF International (MFI). Of the group, Tungray Technologies (TRSG) has seen the biggest post-IPO share price gain.
Investor events: Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) will hold its annual I/O Developer Conference. The tech giant is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI-linked enhancements to products. There could also be hardware updates on the Android 15, Pixel 8a, Pixel Fold 2, and Pixel Tablet 2. Looking at pending M&A, shareholders of Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST) will vote on the proposed merger with Restaurant Brands International (QSR), and shareholders of Chord Energy (CHRD) will vote on the merger deal with Enerplus (ERF). GoodRx Holdings (GDRX) will hold its first Investor Day. The event will feature presentations by top management and an overview of the company's strategy for long-term growth. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) will hold a business update call covering its strategic transformation plan.