Google and Amazon earnings, US employment: what investors need to know this week

The main economic event this week for Wall Street will be the release of January's US jobs report - assuming there is no government shutdown (shutdown). Current funding expired on January 30. The White House and Democrats have reached an agreement that will avoid a shutdown, but the parliament will be able to vote on the funding bill only on February 2, Barron's notes.

In Europe, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will hold interest rate meetings.

In the corporate sector, investors are expecting another busy week of reports: two more of the "Magnificent Seven" companies - Alphabet and Amazon - will present their financial results, as well as other technology heavyweights, including Palantir and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). In addition, Walt Disney, PepsiCo, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Philip Morris are planning to publish their reports, Yahoo Finance reports.

On Monday, February 2, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will release the U.S. manufacturing sector business activity index (PMI) for January. The consensus forecast is 48.5 points, which is slightly higher than December's reading.

Palantir Technologies and Walt Disney will report quarterly results.

On Tuesday, February 3, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). Economists on average forecast 7.25 million open positions as of the last business day of December. That's about 100,000 more than in November.

AMD, Amgen, Chipotle, Chubb, Electronic Arts, Merck, Mondelez International, Nintendo, PayPal, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Super Micro Computer and Take-Two Interactive Software will release earnings reports.

On Wednesday, February 4, the ISM will publish the U.S. Services Business Activity Index for January. The consensus forecast is for a reading of 53.5 points, slightly below the December level.

The eurozone will release preliminary inflation data for January.

Alphabet, Arm Holdings, Eli Lilly, GE HealthCare Technologies, GSK, Equinor, Novo Nordisk, Phillips 66, Qualcomm, Uber Technologies, UBS and Yum! Brands will report quarterly results.

The European Central Bank will hold an interest rate meeting on Thursday, February 5. The rate is expected to remain unchanged, so the focus will be on any guidance on the future trajectory of rates and comments on the recent strengthening of the euro, writes The Wall Street Journal.

According to market expectations, the Bank of England will also keep the interest rate. In December, the regulator reduced it by 25 basis points, but the decision was made with a minimum margin of 5 vs. 4, as inflation in the kingdom, despite the decline, still remains significantly above the target level, notes WSJ.

Amazon, Barrick Mining, ConocoPhillips, Hershey, Linde, Ralph Lauren, Roblox, Shell, Snap-On, Sony and Strategy will report earnings.

On Friday, February 6, the BLS will release the U.S. employment report for January. Wall Street predicts that the unemployment rate will remain at 4.4%. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the labor market "may be stabilizing after a period of gradual easing."

Philip Morris International, Tokyo Electron and Under Armour will report quarterly results.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor