A Key Report for the Fed and Broadcom's Earnings: What Investors Should Watch This Week
A key event for Wall Street this week is expected to be the earnings report from Nvidia's competitor, Broadcom / Photo: Remus Rigo/Shutterstock.com
Earnings season is largely over, so the market’s usual topics of focus remain the U.S. Federal Reserve’s actions and bond market trends. Another pressing question is to what extent the spread of AI truly threatens the business of enterprise software developers, according to Yahoo Finance.
The main macroeconomic event of the week will be the U.S. jobs report, which will provide new insights into the state of the economy and the prospects for a Fed rate hike, according to The Wall Street Journal. In Europe, the most important release will be the eurozone inflation data. On Monday morning, China released its manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data. PMIs for Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and India will be released later.
Among corporate events, investors are focusing on the earnings report from Broadcom, one of Nvidia’s competitors: the company will report its results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026. Several other major AI-related companies will also report this week: Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Ciena, according to Barron's.
On Monday, August 31, China released its official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for August. It rose to 49.8 points from 49.2 points a month earlier, exceeding market expectations, according to Trading Economics, citing the National Bureau of Statistics of China. However, the index remained below 50 points for the second consecutive month, meaning that industrial activity continued to contract, although the pace of decline slowed.
On Tuesday, September 1, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release data on job openings and labor turnover in the country. Economists expect an average of 7.3 million job openings in July—slightly fewer than the previous month. Currently, there are 1.04 job openings for every unemployed person, down from a peak of two in April 2022, according to Barron's.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will release the August Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the U.S. manufacturing sector. The consensus forecast is 55.1 points, 0.5 points lower than the July reading.
A preliminary estimate of August inflation will be released in the eurozone—it will show the extent to which rising energy prices are affecting consumer prices. RBC Capital Markets expects inflation to accelerate from 2.9% in July to 3.6%, “mainly due to another round of sharp increases in fuel prices,” the WSJ reports. The eurozone’s August manufacturing PMI will be released on the same day.
Manufacturing business activity indices will also be released in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, India, and several countries in Southeast Asia. These figures will show how exporting countries are coping with the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, the WSJ notes.
Dell Technologies, Medtronic, NIO, and Palo Alto Networks will report their quarterly results.
On Wednesday, September 2, ADP will release its report on U.S. private-sector employment for August. Economists, on average, forecast an increase of 45,000 jobs—roughly the same as in July.
Broadcom, Five Below, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Snowflake will report their earnings.
On Thursday, September 3, the ISM will release the August U.S. Services Sector Business Activity Index. The consensus forecast calls for a reading of 54.1 points—the same as in July.
The eurozone will release the services PMI for August and the July data on purchase prices.
Ciena, Lululemon Athletica, and Victoria’s Secret will release their financial results.
On Friday, September 4, the BLS will release its report on the U.S. labor market for August. Wall Street expects nonfarm payrolls to increase by 58,000 after a decline of 23,000 in July. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.1%.
“The jobs report is the main event of the week, and it will be the key factor in determining whether the Fed will raise rates on September 16,” ING economist James Knightley wrote to clients. According to LSEG, following Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s speech in Jackson Hole, the market estimates a 57% probability of a 0.25 percentage point rate hike in September.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
