Week Ahead: Heavy Earnings Season Continues with Alphabet, Tesla, Intel

Traders faced a volatile week with geopolitical escalation in the U.S.-Iran War and selling pressure in the semiconductor sector concentrated among memory chipmakers.

Strong quarterly results from major financial institutions to kick off earnings season were not enough to rescue the bulls.

The S&P 500 (SPX) finished the week down 0.77%. The Nasdaq 100 (NDX) fell 2.29%. The small-cap Russell 2000 (RUT) fared better than its bigger counterparts, with a rise of 0.31% on the week.

Oil rose sharply as the U.S. continued military strikes on Iran and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz after an already-shaky ceasefire agreement crumbled on July 8, with crude oil futures (/CL) up 4.51% on the week. Gold futures (/GC) were up 0.20% on the week, while Bitcoin futures (/BTC) saw a 2.95% gain.

Three things to watch this week:

Heavy Earnings Week: It’s another big week for corporate earnings, with Wednesday featuring a particularly full plate with Alphabet (GOOGL), Tesla (TSLA), Texas Instruments, GE Vernova (GEV), and Philip Morris (PM). IBM (IBM) pre-announced an earnings miss last week, which sent the stock down more than 25% ahead of its formal Wednesday report. Thursday’s standout name is Intel (INTC). Here are other noteworthy earnings sectors on the horizon.

• Defense: Northrop Grumman (NOC), RTX Corp. (RTX), Lockheed Martin (LMT).
• Telecom: AT&T (T), T-Mobile US (TMUS), Comcast (CMCSA), Verizon (VZ), Charter Communications (CHTR).
• Airlines & Transportation: Southwest Airlines (LUV), American Airlines (AAL), Alaska Air Group (ALK), CSX (CSX), Union Pacific (UNP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), KnightSwift (KNX)
• Mining & Metals: Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Cleveland Cliffs (CLF), Newmont (NEM).

Economic Data: It’s a lighter week for ecodata, but traders can still look toward Jobless Claims and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index on Thursday, followed by Building Permits, New Home Sales, and S&P Global Composite PMI Flash on Friday.

European Interest Rates: The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday to determine interest rates for the European Union, with expectations that rates will hold steady. The ECB raised rates to 2.25% (+0.25%) in June. Much like the situation faced by the Federal Reserve, the ECB will have to weigh the dilemma of higher oil prices caused by the U.S.-Iran war vs. the inflation situation. Changes in European interest rates can have significant effects on the strength of the U.S. dollar, as well as U.S. corporate borrowing costs, attractiveness of exporting products, and domestic inflation.

Economic Events/Data (ET) 

Monday, July 20

• 10:00 AM: Conference Board U.S. Leading Economic Index

Tuesday, July 21

· 08:15 AM: ADP Employment Change

Wednesday, July 22

· 07:00 AM: MBA Mortgage Applications

Thursday, July 23

· 08:30 AM: Chicago Fed National Activity Index

· 08:30 AM: Jobless Claims

· 04:30 PM: Fed Balance Sheet

Friday, July 24

· 08:00 AM: Building Permits

· 09:45 AM: S&P Global Composite PMI Flash

· 10:00 AM: New Home Sales

· 11:00 AM: Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index

Earnings Calendar (notable earnings sorted by market cap)

Monday, July 20

• Premarket: Ryanair (RYAAY), Domino's Pizza (DPZ), AMC Entertainment (AMC)

• Postmarket: Steel Dynamics (STLD), Crown Holdings (CCK), Wintrust Financial (WTFC), Zions Bancorporation (ZION)

Tuesday, July 21

• Premarket: Novartis (NVS), Charles Schwab (SCHW), Danaher (DHR), 3M (MMM), Northrop Grumman (NOC), General Motors (GM), D.R. Horton (DHI), Halliburton (HAL), KeyCorp (KEY), Synchrony Financial (SYF), Ally Financial (ALLY), Hasbro (HAS)

• Postmarket: Interactive Brokers (IBKR), Chubb (CB), Capital One Financial (COF), EQT (EQT), Alaska Air Group (ALK)

Wednesday, July 22

• Premarket: GE Vernova (GEV), Philip Morris (PM), AT&T (T), CME Group (CME), TE Connectivity (TEL), Teledyne Technologies (TDY), Otis Worldwide (OTIS), PulteGroup (PHM)

• Postmarket: Alphabet (GOOGL), Tesla (TSLA), Texas Instruments (TXN), Intl. Business Machines (IBM), ServiceNow (NOW), CSX (CSX), Kinder Morgan (KMI), United Rentals (URI), Waste Connections (WCN), Crown Castle (CCI), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Rollins (ROL), Molina Healthcare (MOH), KnightSwift (KNX)

Thursday, July 23

• Premarket: RTX Corp. (RTX), TMobile (TMUS), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Union Pacific (UNP), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Blackstone (BX), FreeportMcMoran (FCX), Comcast (CMCSA), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Honeywell (HON), Nokia (NOK), STMicroelectronics (STM), PG&E (PCG), Infosys (INFY), Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Dow (DOW), Tractor Supply (TSCO), American Airlines (AAL), Mobileye (MBLY), Albertsons (ACI), Boyd Gaming (BYD), Cleveland Cliffs (CLF), Harley Davidson (HOG)

• Postmarket: Intel (INTC), SAP (SAP), Newmont (NEM), Digital Realty Trust (DLR), Edwards Lifesciences (EW), Deckers Outdoor (DECK), Boyd Gaming (BYD), The Boston Beer Co. (SAM)

Friday, July 24

• Premarket: American Express (AXP), NextEra Energy (NEE), Verizon (VZ), HCA Healthcare (HCA), Canadian National Railway (CNI), SLB (SLB), Charter Communications (CHTR), Lamb Weston (LW)

• Postmarket: n/a

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