All three major averages posted gains for the third consecutive week, lifted by solid quarterly earnings and positive economic data. Gross domestic product data for the fourth quarter came in hotter than expected on Thursday at the headline level, but didn’t little to pull down stocks thanks to softer price data. One day later, December’s core personal consumption expenditures price (core PCE) index landed in line with Wall Street’s expectations. In other words, the economy is growing faster than expected even as the rate of inflation continues to come down. In addition, December new home sales came in better than expected, as did December pending home sales . Within the portfolio, Procter & Gamble shares popped more than 4% on Tuesday after reporting strong quarterly results . Sales just missed estimates but profitability was solid, excluding charges related to writing down the value of Gillette and non-core restructuring measures. As a result, management was able to raise the low end of its full-year earnings forecast. Earnings season ramps up next week, with five of the Super Six mega-cap stocks delivering results. Given their weightings in the market, these releases will drive the market, for better or worse. Here’s what we’re keeping an eye on: 1. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Employment numbers are the most important economic data, with Friday’s January nonfarm payrolls report carrying the most weight. Wall Street expects a headline reading of 178,000 jobs added. Arguably more important, however, is wage inflation data that’s tucked into the report. Consumer buying power allows companies to raise prices while protecting volumes. To that end, higher wage growth equals more buying power — supports prolonged inflation. Therefore, a hot wage number hear could spook the market. As of Friday, economists expect 4.1%, which is in line with December’s rate. That would still outpaces recent inflation data — core PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred measure came in at 2.9% for December. If that holds, the consumer could recoup some of the buying power lost in recent years. The ADP employment report on Wednesday will give investors a bit of a read-through to Friday (though far from accurate), while the job openings and labor turnover s urvey (JOLTS) job on Tuesday will signal how tight the labor market is by analyzing the number of job openings, rate of hiring, and the rate of workers leaving their jobs. 2. Manufacturing update. The January ISM Manufacturing report on Thursday and December’s factory orders report Friday are expected to show the sector still in contraction mode. Analysts are forecasting a 47.3% reading on ISM manufacturing, which measures the rate of contraction or expansion. The further below 50, the faster the contraction; the further above 50, the faster the rate of expansion. 3. Earnings. It’s a big week for the portfolio with 10 companies set to report. Danaher : Management already preannounced positive results at the JPM Healthcare Conference earlier this month, but was conservative about when it expects the bioprocessing orders to pick back up. But earnings and commentary this week from peer Sartorious made us encouraged about a return to growth in 2024. Alphabet : We are looking for confirmation that the advertising market is in recovery mode and want to hear that the search giant’s AI investments are helping to improve customer ROIs. Cloud will also be a key watch item as the results last time were sub-optimal, especially against what we heard from Amazon and Microsoft. This release should give us some insight into whether that was a fluke or if maybe Alphabet just can’t compete with Azure and AWS. 2024 is also supposed to be the year in which cost savings and efficiency efforts really start to kick in so we want to hear what the team has to say about increased operating leverage. Finally, we’d like an update from management on how AI is improving search and helping to maintain market share, as well as any more detail on Gemini, its new multimodal AI model. Microsoft : It’s all about Azure growth and AI monetization. On cloud unit Azure, we’re looking for growth in the 27% to 28% range on an annual basis (26% to 27% on a constant currency basis) as enterprise spend optimization efforts wind down and budgets begin to rebound. As for AI, commentary on its Copilot feature is key as its the quickest way for the company to monetize on their massive investments in OpenAI and generative AI more broadly. Given the need for investments and uncertainty about how big will become, the Street will also look for expense guidance. We want them to invest in future growth, but management needs to ensure investors that they will be disciplined in their approach. Starbucks : We expect coffee chain will miss on sales due to a weaker China market than expected, Middle East boycotts, and a slowdown in the United States. The question is how big of a reset it will be and does the stock in the low $90s reflect these lower numbers? Some analysts argue yes, others say no. We’ve been waiting for this quarterly report to guide our next moves. Honeywell : Aerospace should remain strong. The bigger question is about its short-cycle markets, like in safety and productivity solutions where sales have been falling but orders looked to be finally turning a corner last quarter. We’d like an update on its M & A strategy after the company announced it will acquire Carrier’s Global Access Solutions business. We thought it was a good pickup. Eaton : When this industrial announced the resignation of its CFO last week, it said it expects strong results for the fourth quarter. We’ll see what the numbers show. Our focus will be on the ongoing momentum in orders for its electrical business. Stanley Black & Decker : The toolmaker will guide 2024 earnings somewhere in the $4 to $5 range as gross margins continue to recover. Watching progress on inventory reduction, reducing other costs. We’re also prepared to hear that DIY demand remains soft. Apple : We’re not expecting anything crazy from the reported numbers. As usual, we’ll focus on services growth as this is key to further margin expansion, and would love to hear about a new record high on the installed base. The Street is expecting services will be up 12.3% from a year ago, but a decline of 2% for product sales. It’s what management says outside of the reported results, however, that will move the stock. The big topic likely to come up during the Q & A is how management is addressing the recent regulatory ruling in Europe that is forcing them to open the iOS platform to other non-Apple app stores. We also expect we’ll hear questions about Apple Watch demand following the removal of a blood oxygen monitoring feature on certain models to comply with a recent ruling in its battle against Masimo . Lastly, on a more positive note, we’re excited to hear anything new about Vision Pro demand and perhaps any unique ways developers are looking to leverage the new “spatial computing” technology. Amazon : As usual, we expect AWS cloud growth and management’s forward operating income guidance to be the key drivers of the stock action. We’d also like to see strong advertising growth as we think the company has a major opportunity to gain market share here, especially as they open the Prime Video platform to allow for more ads. For e-commerce, we’re looking for a continued rebound in operating leverage as capacity utilization improves. Meta Platforms : We expect to see some stock action ahead of Meta’s release based on Alphabet’s commentary on the ad market. Specific to Meta, however, we want to hear about how AI investments are helping with user engagement, and improving targeting and ROI for ad buyers. Reels monetization is also a key focus. Last quarter, management said Reels was net neutral to overall ad revenue after a period of being a drag, as is usually the case with new mediums unfamiliar to ad buyers. The question now: Has it become a tailwind? Monday, January 29 Before the bell: SoFi (SOFI), Franklin Resources (BEN), Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (ARLP), Royal Philips (PHG), Bank of Marin Bancorp (BMRC), Bank7 Corp. (BSVN), Pacific Premier Bancorp Inc (PPBI), Provident Financial Holdings (PROV), Coda Octopus Group (CODA), Dynex Capital (DX) After the bell: Supermicro (SMCI), Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (CLF), Nucor Corp. (NUE), Whirlpool Corp. (WHR), Celestica (CLS), F5 Networks (FFIV), Capital Southwest Corp. (CSWC), Graco (GGG), High Tide (HITI), Two Harbors Investment Corp (TWO), Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE), Calix (CALX), Crane Co. (CR), Helmerich & Payne (HP), Transcat (TRNS), Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), Woodward (WWD), HomeStreet (HMST), Heartland Financial USA (HTLF), ServisFirst Bancshares (SFBS), Cadence Bancorporation (CADE), FinWise Bancorp (FINW), Five Star Bancorp (FSBC), Harmonic (HLIT), PotlatchDeltic Corporation (PCH), Sanmina Corporation (SANM), Nuveen California Dividend Adv (NVX) Tuesday, January 30 10:00 a.m. ET: JOLTS Job Openings Before the bell: Danaher (DHR), Pfizer (PFE), General Motors Corp. (GM), United Parcel Service (UPS), JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU), A.O. Smith Corp. (AOS), MSCI (MSCI), Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC), HCA Healthcare (HCA), Corning (GLW), Oshkosh Corporation (OSK), PulteGroup (PHM), SYSCO Corp. (SYY), Danaher Corp. (DHR), Johnson Controls (JCI), M.D.C. Holdings (MDC), Commvault Systems Inc (CVLT), Hope Bancorp (HOPE), MPLX LP (MPLX), Hubbell Incorporated (HUBB), Malibu Boats (MBUU), Polaris Industries, Inc (PII), Camden National Corp (CAC), Cambridge Bancorp (CATC), ManpowerGroup (MAN), Pentair (PNR) After the bell: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Electronic Arts Inc (EA), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Match Group (MTCH), Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Stryker Corp. (SYK), Lending Club (LC), Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CP), Mondelez International (MDLZ), Chubb Corporation (CB), Modine Manufacturing Co. (MOD), Artisan Partners Asset Management (APAM), Equity Residential (EQR), Hawaiian Holdings Inc (HA), Manhattan Associates (MANH), Teradyne (TER), Unum Group (UNM), Axos Financial (AX), Enova International (ENVA), Boston Properties (BXP) Wednesday, January 31 8:15 a.m. ET: ADP Employment Report 2:00 p.m. ET: FOMC Meeting Before the bell: Boeing Co. (BA), Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), Mastercard Inc (MA), Phillips 66 (PSX), Roper Technologies (ROP), Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX), MarketAxess Holdings (MKTX), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Aptiv PLC (APTV), Hess Corp (HES), Nasdaq (NDAQ), United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), Avnet (AVT), M/I Homes (MHO), Rockwell Automation (ROK), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd (TEVA), Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY), Cencora (COR), Extreme Networks (EXTR), Otis Worldwide Corporation (OTIS), Columbus McKinnon Corp. (CMCO), Central Pacific Financial Corp (CPF), Brinker International (EAT), Fortive Corporation (FTV) After the bell: Qualcomm (QCOM), Corteva (CTVA), Align Technology (ALGN), Wolfspeed (WOLF), AFLAC (AFL), AvalonBay Communities (AVB), Century Communities, Inc (CCS), Metlife (MET), Nextracker (NXT), C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW), Hanover Insurance Group (THG), Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT), CONMED Corporation (CNMD), DLH Holdings Corp. (DLHC), Landstar System (LSTR), Meritage Homes Corporation (MTH), Qorvo (QRVO) Thursday, February 1 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial Jobless Claims 10:00 a.m. ET: ISM Manufacturing Before the bell: Honeywell International (HON), Eaton Corp. (ETN), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) , Altria Group Inc (MO), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL), Peloton Interactive (PTON), Merck & Co. (MRK), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD), Dorian LPG Ltd (LPG), SiriusXM Holdings (SIRI), Cardinal Health (CAH), Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (OCSL), Parker-Hannifin Corporation (PH), Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), Tractor Supply Company (TSCO), Trane Technologies plc (TT), Dover Corp. (DOV), 1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS), Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), Pitney Bowes (PBI), Ferrari N.V. (RACE), Brunswick Corporation (BC), Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BDX), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS), Kirby Corp. (KEX), WEC Energy Group (WEC), WestRock Company (WRK), Allegro MicroSystems (ALGM), Ball Corporation (BALL), Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR), BrightSphere Investment Group plc (BSIG), CMS Energy Corp. (CMS), CSW Industrials (CSWI), International Paper Co. (IP), Lancaster Colony Corp. (LANC), Rogers Communications Inc (RCI), Sanofi (SNY) After the bell: Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), Atlassian Corporation Plc (TEAM), United States Steel Corp. (X), Clorox Co. (CLX), Skechers U.S.A. (SKX), Deckers Brands (DECK), Orchid Island Capital (ORC), Microchip Technology (MCHP), Open Text Corp. (OTEX), Coursera (COUR), NOV (NOV), Adtalem Global Education (ATGE), Beazer Homes USA (BZH), DXC Technology Company (DXC), Eastman Chemical Company (EMN), Exponent (EXPO), Gen Digital (GEN), Hologic (HOLX), Post Holdings (POST), Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA), SkyWest (SKYW), Columbia Sportswear Company (COLM) Friday, February 2 8:30 a.m. ET: Nonfarm Payrolls 10:00 a.m. ET: Factory Orders Before the bell: Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corporation (CVX), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), AbbVie (ABBV), CIGNA Corp. (CI), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), Charter Communications (CHTR), AON Plc (AON), W.W. Grainger (GWW), Cboe Global Markets, Inc (CBOE), Church & Dwight Co. (CHD), Saia (SAIA), Banco Santander – Chile (SAN) (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
All three major averages posted gains for the third consecutive week, lifted by solid quarterly earnings and positive economic data.
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