The Earnings Week Ahead: Apple, AMD and Palantir, Plus the Election and Jobs

Next week brings a big run of tech earnings, and two events that can move every stock at once. Americans vote in the midterm elections on Tuesday, 3 November, and the Labor Department’s October jobs report lands on Friday, 6 November.

Both arrive with the Federal Reserve on edge. The Fed held rates at 3.75% to 4.00% on Wednesday, but two officials voted for a hike, and traders put the odds of one in December at about 85%, according to futures data from Bloomberg cited by Yahoo Finance. Thursday’s data gave the hawks more to work with. The economy grew at a 3.4% annual rate in the third quarter, and the PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 3.6% in the year to September, the Commerce Department said.

US daylight saving time ends on Sunday, 1 November, a week after Britain’s clocks went back, so from Monday New York is five hours behind London. All times below are ET.

Monday 2 November

Earnings. Marriott International (MAR) and Estée Lauder (EL) report before the open. After the close come Apple (AAPL), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), onsemi (ON), Williams (WMB), Diamondback Energy (FANG) and Roku (ROKU).

What they’ll tell us. Apple’s report is the week’s biggest. It will show whether rising memory-chip costs are eating into its margins, and what it expects for the holiday quarter, the first with its $1,999 foldable iPhone Duo. Our Apple preview has the numbers. Palantir will show whether companies are still buying its AI software at last quarter’s pace, when its US commercial revenue grew 149%. Our Palantir preview.

The economy. The Institute for Supply Management’s October survey of factory managers comes out at 10 a.m. Its prices index is the one to watch, with US crude above $100 a barrel.

Tuesday 3 November: Election Day

The vote. The midterms decide control of the House and the Senate. US stock markets keep normal hours, according to the NYSE’s holiday calendar. Oil and energy shares will also trade on the war: The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the US told Gulf allies to prepare for a possible short, intense military campaign against Iran after the vote.

Earnings. Before the open: Shopify (SHOP), Pfizer (PFE), Eaton (ETN), Marathon Petroleum (MPC) and Apollo Global Management (APO). After the close: AMD (AMD), Amgen (AMGN), Arista Networks (ANET), Booking Holdings (BKNG), Block (XYZ) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI).

What they’ll tell us. AMD is the test of the AI chip trade outside Nvidia (NVDA). Its forecast for the December quarter, when its Helios server racks are due to ramp up, may matter more than the quarter itself (our AMD preview). Shopify, whose software runs millions of online stores, gives an early read on holiday shopping (our Shopify preview). Arista and Super Micro sell the networking gear and servers inside AI data centers. Marathon Petroleum will show how much refiners made, after Exxon Mobil (XOM) said stronger refining margins should add about $4.5 billion to its own third-quarter earnings compared with the second quarter (our Exxon preview).

The economy. The Labor Department’s JOLTS survey of job openings in September comes out at 10 a.m., a check on how many workers employers want before Friday’s count of how many they hired.

Wednesday 4 November

Earnings. Before the open: Uber (UBER), Novo Nordisk (NVO), CVS Health (CVS) and Datadog (DDOG). Nasdaq and Finviz also list McDonald’s (MCD) for Wednesday morning, but we couldn’t find the company’s own confirmation. After the close: Arm Holdings (ARM), Qualcomm (QCOM), AppLovin (APP) and McKesson (MCK). Nasdaq’s calendar also lists MercadoLibre (MELI) for Wednesday, with no time. DoorDash (DASH), first listed for Wednesday, moved its report forward and released results on 29 October.

What they’ll tell us. Uber has to answer the robotaxi worry that has pushed its stock down 19.5% this year (our Uber preview). Arm and Qualcomm both lean on smartphones, where pricier memory chips are squeezing phone makers. Qualcomm’s revenue from handset chips fell 20% from a year earlier in its last quarter, and Chief Executive Cristiano Amon pointed to “a challenging memory and supply environment.” Qualcomm’s call starts at 4:45 p.m. and Arm’s at 5 p.m.

The economy. ADP’s estimate of private-sector hiring in October comes in the morning, and ISM’s survey of service businesses at 10 a.m. The Treasury also makes its quarterly refunding announcement, which sets how much longer-term debt it plans to sell. That matters more than usual with the 10-year Treasury yield around 5%.

Thursday 5 November

Earnings. Before the open: ConocoPhillips (COP), Cigna (CI), Duke Energy (DUK) and Wendy’s. After the close: Airbnb (ABNB) and Cloudflare (NET).

What they’ll tell us. ConocoPhillips, which pumps oil and gas but doesn’t refine it, shows what crude near $100 means for a pure producer. Wendy’s said it will share more detail on its strategic plan on the call, eight days after Nelson Peltz’s Trian and Flynn Group made a non-binding offer of $7.35 a share in cash to take it private. Airbnb is a read on travel spending into the holidays.

The economy. The Bank of England announces its rate decision, with its Bank Rate at 3.75%. In the US, weekly jobless claims and the first estimate of third-quarter productivity and unit labor costs come at 8:30 a.m. Rising labor costs per unit of output feed into inflation.

Friday 6 November

The jobs report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes October’s payrolls and unemployment rate at 8:30 a.m. Its schedule shows no delay. In September employers added just 29,000 jobs, against 90,000 expected, and the unemployment rate was 4.2%. Economists’ forecasts for October weren’t out when we checked.

What it will tell us. Whether the 3.4% growth is reaching workers. Another weak month would make a December hike harder to justify. A strong one would back Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, who wanted to raise rates this week.

Also. Moderna (MRNA) and Vistra (VST) report before the open, and the University of Michigan’s early November reading of consumer sentiment comes at 10 a.m. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) hadn’t announced its date when we checked.

How the big reporters have done

The week’s tech names come in from very different places. AMD and Arm have more than doubled this year, while Uber is down by about a fifth, using Thursday’s closes.

We’ll have stories on each of the big reports as they land, starting on Friday morning with Exxon, Chevron (CVX) and AbbVie (ABBV). Our previews of Chevron and AbbVie are up now.