Fed rate decision and Magnificent 7 earnings: what to expect for investors this week
The latest data on weaker-than-expected inflationary pressures in the U.S. will almost guarantee a quarter percentage point cut in the Fed Funds rate this week, writes Barron's. Decisions on monetary policy will also be made by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.
Last quarter's earnings will be reported by 160 companies in the S&P 500 index - the busiest week of the current reporting season. Among them, five "Magnificent Seven" technology giants will reveal their financial results: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft.
On Monday, October 27, U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive in Japan for a three-day visit for a summit with Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. While the trade deal that Tokyo struck with Washington in September brought some relief to Japanese exporters, margin pressure remains and could hurt corporate investment going forward, Trading Economics noted.
Keurig Dr Pepper will present quarterly results.
On Tuesday, October 28, S&P will release data on home prices in the 20 largest U.S. cities for August, and the Conference Board will release its October consumer confidence index for the world's largest economy.
Financial reports from Electronic Arts, Mondelez International, Novartis, PayPal Holdings, UnitedHealth and Visa are expected.
On Wednesday, October 29, the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce a decision on the interest rate. The market is convinced that the regulator will reduce it by 0.25 percentage points - to 3.75-4%, writes The Wall Street Journal. Therefore, Wall Street's attention will be focused on the statements of the Fed's leadership - they may give an idea of how quickly the policy will be softened in conditions when the shutdown in the U.S. continues to delay the publication of macroeconomic data. According to LSEG, there is now little doubt on Wall Street that the Fed will cut rates again at its December meeting, the WSJ notes.
Adidas, Airbus, Alphabet, Boeing, Caterpillar, Chipotle Mexican Grill, eBay, GE HealthCare Technologies, GSK, Kraft Heinz, Mercedes-Benz, Meta, Microsoft and Starbucks will release earnings data for last quarter.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in South Korea on Thursday, October 30. Markets are waiting for progress in the talks on duties amid an escalating trade crisis between the two major economies.
The ECB and the Bank of Japan will announce their interest rate decisions. Both regulators are expected to leave it unchanged at 2% and 0.5% respectively.
Amazon, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Apple, Bristol Myers Squibb, Coinbase Global, Eli Lilly, Estee Lauder, Hershey, Kimberly-Clark, L3Harris Technologies, Lufthansa, Mastercard, Merck, Puma, Reddit, Samsung Electronics, Shell, TotalEnergies and Volkswagen will disclose their financial statements.
Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, Exxon Mobil, Sumitomo and Tokyo Electron will report quarterly earnings on Friday, October 31.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
