A wave of corporate results that could help determine whether the stock-market rally has more room to run - or whether investors are growing wary of the companies that powered it
Will the financing of the AI boom derail the stock market? This week's earnings reports will help answer that question.
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Investors face a test this week as a fresh round of corporate earnings collides with rising borrowing costs and growing questions about the economics of the AI boom.
Here's the big question this week: Can strength elsewhere in the stock market keep the rally going if tech shares remain under pressure?
Three stories worth your time
-- Big tech stocks are wobbling. Goldman Sachs says it's time to buy these 23 unloved stocks instead.
-- Silver's recent 50% drop from a record high hints that an economic slowdown looms.
-- France and the U.S. share the same debt trap. One of them has a global lifeline.
On markets: About 70 companies among the S&P 500 report quarterly results this week. After a bruising stretch for tech stocks, investors will be looking for more than upbeat forecasts to justify valuations amid rising borrowing costs, MarketWatch's Joe Adinolfi reports.
On trading: U.S. stock-index futures advanced Monday morning, with the Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ00) leading the gains after Friday's tech-led selloff. The early rebound implies that investors aren't entirely ready to abandon one of the most popular trades on Wall Street: AI-related stocks.
-- Follow our live stock-market coverage.
-- Earnings take center stage: Netflix NFLX, General Motors GM and GE Aerospace GE are set to report results on Tuesday. They will be followed by Meta META and Tesla TSLA on Wednesday.
-- Housing's reality check: The latest data on home-builder confidence are set to be released Monday, followed by September housing starts on Tuesday, offering a fresh look at an industry that's struggling with mortgage rates around 7%.
-- The economy: Thursday brings weekly jobless claims, while Friday's manufacturing and services surveys and consumer-sentiment report could shed further light on growth and inflation ahead of the Fed's coming gathering. (Check out the MarketWatch economic calendar.)
Bounce-back candidates ...
Last week was a rough one for tech stocks, but, with quarterly earnings season upon us, these companies will have the opportunity to rewrite the narrative - especially if they can show the benefits of artificial intelligence to their businesses. Tech leaders such as Microsoft, Shopify and Cadence Design Systems are poised to rebound, analysts say, assuming they beat earnings expectations, as anticipated. That also includes CoreWeave, which saw its shares tumble more than 25% last week as debt worries mounted. But some analysts say investors have treated that stock too harshly and that the market's reaction is "not reflective of fundamentals."
These buyers aren't afraid of a 7% mortgage rate ...
Individual investors and second-home buyers accounted for one in five purchases in September.
While high mortgage rates are keeping many from would-be home buyers from taking the leap, real-estate investors, including people buying second homes, are active. "There are opportunities for investors today that we haven't seen in years," one investor told Aarthi Swaminathan. "It's a good time to be looking for motivated sellers, buying right and structuring deals that make financial sense."
How much is enough to retire?
Quentin Fottrell confronts one 60-year-old reader's dilemma: He wants to retire, and his wife says the couple can't afford it. He vetoed her $8,000 trip to Italy. They have $4 million saved up. Does he need to keep working?
Rate hikes up in the air ...
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh.
Will the Federal Reserve raise U.S. interest rates again this month? While futures markets forecast only a 17% chance of a hike, some economists are saying investors are underestimating those chances, with raising rates now "a 50-50 call," writes Greg Robb. Whichever way they go, there's likely to be political backlash. "There is no way to behave around the [midterm] election that won't get criticism from somebody, and they will get pilloried by the president no matter what they do," one economist says.
Pointers from the Points Guy ...
The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly spoke with MarketWatch's Genna Contino to help her pick her first rewards credit card - and shared further tips for beginners in the points game.
About me
Mark DeCambre is editor in chief of MarketWatch. He has spent more than 20 years covering Wall Street, markets and personal finance, and writes Need to Know, drawing on the award-winning analysis and journalism of the newsroom.
-Mark DeCambre
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