What To Expect in the Markets This Week

Wednesday’s release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes for January will show the deliberations behind the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged, providing potential insight into rate paths in the future.

Following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress last week, several other Fed officials are slated to deliver remarks this week, including Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, and St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem.

Several pieces of housing market data are expected, including January data on existing home sales, which hit a 30-year low in late 2024. The homebuilder confidence survey on Tuesday comes as the residential construction industry has signaled enthusiasm about business in 2025. Housing starts data scheduled for release Wednesday will provide insight into the pace of residential construction.

The scheduled release of the final February survey on consumer sentiment comes as inflation worries weighed on the survey’s preliminary results earlier this month.

Investors are also watching for regional manufacturing surveys, preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index results for February, and weekly jobless claims data.

Walmart is scheduled to report earnings on Thursday as the retail giant looks to keep up its momentum after its prior quarterly report beat analyst estimates for both revenue and earnings. The company’s strong performance came as e-commerce revenue rose by 27% and advertising revenue was up 28%. The report comes as competitor Amazon (AMZN) recently delivered a softer-than-expected sales forecast.

U.S.-traded Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is scheduled to issue its quarterly financial results, which comes as the company is reportedly teaming up with Apple to develop Apple Intelligence features for iPhones in China. The company reported better-than-expected profit for the prior quarter, but its sales results came up short. U.S.-traded Chinese internet search firm Baidu is expected to report on Tuesday.

HSBC Holdings’ scheduled report on Wednesday comes as the British bank reported 5% growth in revenue and follows its announcement that it would conduct another $3 billion stock buyback.

Arista Networks is expected to report on Tuesday, after the cloud network provider posted better-than-expected earnings in the prior quarter but showed a decline in gross margins.

The expected report from electronic design automation firm Cadence Design Systems comes after it raised its full-year earnings outlook as revenue rose by 19% in the prior quarter. Semiconductor maker Analog Devices is also on the corporate earnings calendar this week.

Online used-car seller Carvana is scheduled to issue its quarterly earnings, which come as short-seller Hindenburg Research called the company’s 2024 turnaround a “mirage” due to its sale of subprime loans to unidentified third parties. EV maker Rivian is set to report on Thursday. 

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