The situation around Iran, Tesla and Intel earnings: what investors need to know this week

The main focus of the markets this week continues to be on developments in the Middle East. Last Friday, April 17, oil fell heavily on Iranian Foreign Ministry statements that the Strait of Hormuz was "fully open" to merchant ships. But over the weekend, the situation unfolded: the U.S. Navy fired on and seized an Iranian cargo ship, and Tehran accused Washington of violating the truce, which is due to end on Tuesday, April 21, and resumed the blockade of the strait, which led to a sharp rise in oil prices.

In addition to the situation in the Middle East region, market participants this week will also be watching retail sales and business activity (PMI) data in the US, as well as statistics from Europe. This will make it possible to assess how much the conflict in the Middle East and the sharp rise in energy prices have hit consumer and business sentiment. Another significant event will be the confirmation hearings for Kevin Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Almost one-fifth of the companies in the S&P 500 index will publish their quarterly reports. In the spotlight are the financial results of Elon Musk's Tesla and semiconductor giant Intel, whose shares reached their highest level since 2000 during trading on April 17. The reports of Alaska Air and United Airlines will allow to understand the scale of the impact of the sharp rise in jet fuel prices, and the revenue dynamics of GE Vernova will act as a barometer of demand for infrastructure for artificial intelligence, indicates Yahoo Finance.

Alaska Air, Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Dynamics will present financial results on Monday, April 20.

On Tuesday, April 21, the U.S. Census Bureau will report on retail sales in the world's largest economy for March. Weak macroeconomic statistics will increase the likelihood of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, especially if oil prices fall again, WSJ notes.

Kevin Warsh, US President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Federal Reserve, will appear before the Senate Banking Committee. According to ING economist James Knightley, Warsh is likely to be asked whether he shares US President Donald Trump's position as a supporter of low interest rates.

GE Aerospace, Halliburton, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Thales, United Airlines and UnitedHealth will share the results.

Turkey's central bank will announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday, April 22.

Tesla, Boeing, Danone, IBM, L'Oreal, Philip Morris and Southwest Airlines will disclose financials.

On Thursday, April 23, S&P Global will release preliminary business activity indices (PMIs) for the manufacturing and services sectors in the U.S. and eurozone for April.

Intel, Baker Hughes, Blackstone, Freeport-McMoRan, Honeywell, Keurig Dr Pepper, Lockheed Martin, Newmont, Sanofi, SAP and Union Pacific will report quarterly results.

Procter & Gamble and SLB will release earnings reports on Friday, April 24.

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