US inflation, Alibaba and Walmart earnings: what investors need to know this week

Whether the turbulence in the markets caused by the development of artificial intelligence-based tools will continue will be the main question for Wall Street this week, Yahoo Finance writes. In the previous two weeks, investors sold off shares of companies from the software, real estate, financial services and logistics sectors amid concerns that the traditional business models of these players will be threatened.

The key event in the economic statistics calendar will be the publication of December data on US personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Fed's preferred inflation indicator. Last Friday's Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that inflation in the world's largest economy slowed more than forecast in January.

About 50 companies from the S&P 500 index are preparing to present their quarterly results. One of the most important will be the report of Walmart - an important indicator of consumer spending. In addition, several energy companies, whose business is affected by the growing demand for electricity from AI data centers: Constellation Energy, Energy Transfer and The Southern Company, will report their earnings, Yahoo Finance reports.

On Monday, February 16, U.S. stock exchanges are closed in observance of Presidents' Day.

In the eurozone, industrial production data for December will be released.

China's two-week New Year's holiday begins, a period closely watched by investors as expanding domestic demand remains the top priority of the country's authorities and the focus of businesses operating in that market, The Wall Street Journal noted.

Energy Transfer and Palo Alto Networks will report financial results on Tuesday, February 17.

On Wednesday, February 18, the US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release the minutes of its January monetary policy meeting, at which it did not change the interest rate, with two members favoring a cut. "The January minutes are likely to detail the arguments in favor of a wait-and-see approach versus the arguments in favor of a rate cut," HSBC analysts said in a note quoted by WSJ.

Analog Devices, Carvana, DoorDash, eBay, Glencore and Occidental Petroleum will publish quarterly reports.

On Thursday, February 19, the U.S. National Association of Realtors will release the Pending Home Sales Index for January. This leading indicator of activity in the residential real estate market is expected to grow by 2.5% in monthly terms after a decline of 9.3% in December, writes Barron's.

Airbus, Alibaba, Constellation Energy, Deere, Newmont, Pernod Ricard, Renault, Southern Co. and Walmart will report earnings.

On Friday, February 20, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release the nation's personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index for December. The consensus forecast assumes an increase of 2.8% in annualized terms, the same as in November.

The BEA will also provide a preliminary estimate of U.S. GDP for the fourth quarter of 2025. Economists on average estimate the annual growth rate of the U.S. economy at 2.8%, seasonally adjusted.

S&P Global will publish business activity indices (PMI) in the manufacturing and service sectors in the US for February. The consensus forecast assumes a value of 52.3 points for the manufacturing PMI and 53 points for the service PMI.

The eurozone will release preliminary business activity (PMI) estimates for February. "We do not expect a significant improvement in PMI readings from January's reading: the services sector is expected to remain in growth territory, while the manufacturing sector is expected to remain in contraction, albeit only slightly," the WSJ quoted Oxford Economics economist Nicola Nobile as saying.

AngloGold Ashanti and Danone will report quarterly results.

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