Last Thursday, equities suffered their worst single-day drop since the tariff turmoil in April 2025 on their way to posting a fourth consecutive weekly decline. The Nasdaq Composite index sank 5.5% on Thursday, and 3.4% for the week, while the S&P 500 fell 4.4% and 2.7%, over the same respective periods.
A Democratic landslide in Tuesday's midterm elections led investors to flee chip stocks on fears that the data-center buildout will be slowed by increased scrutiny from the newly-elected Democratic Congress and governors, especially in Georgia and Texas. Both states have outgoing governors who were seen as more receptive to data centers. The VanEck Semiconductor exchange-traded-fund fell 11.2% last week and has plummeted 31% from its late-June peak; the ETF, however, is still up 29% this year.
Inflation data is the focus this week, with two reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on tap. With the labor market in solid shape, it will be inflation that determines that path of interest rates in the near term. The BLS will release the consumer price index on Tuesday and the producer price index on Friday.
Nearly 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported third-quarter results, and year-over-year earnings growth is about 29% so far. That's a slight deceleration from the second quarter's 33% jump, and apparently not enough for investors, as the S&P 500 is down 3.6% since the beginning of October.
Eleven more S&P 500 companies are slated to report this week, including Constellation Energy and Skydance on Monday, and Applied Materials and Cisco Systems on Thursday.
Monday 11/9
Constellation Energy, Ferguson Enterprises, KKR, NRG Energy, Occidental Petroleum, Rocket Lab, Skydance, and Take-Two Interactive Software announce earnings.
Tuesday 11/10
Alcon, CoreWeave, On Holding, TransDigm Group, and Venture Global report quarterly results.
The National Federation of Independent Business releases its Small Business Optimism Index for October. Consensus estimate is for a 97.7 reading, roughly even with the September figure.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for October. Economists forecast a 0.3% month-over-month increase, following a 0.6% jump in September. The core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, is expected to rise 0.2%, one-tenth of a percentage point less than in September. The BLS won't release year-over-year statistics because the government shutdown between October 1st and November 12th of last year precluded October 2025 data from being collected.
Wednesday 11/11
Corteva, Franco-Nevada, and Vylor release earnings.
Fixed-income markets are closed in observance of Veterans Day.
Thursday 11/12
Applied Materials, Brookfield, Cerebras Systems, Cisco Systems, Nebius Group, and Nu Holdings announce quarterly results.
The National Association of Realtors reports existing-home sales for October. Consensus estimate is for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.85 million homes sold, about 3% less than in September.
Friday 11/13
The BLS releases the producer price index for October. The consensus call is for a 6.6% year-over-year jump, three-tenths of a percentage point more than in September. The core PPI is expected to rise 5%, matching the September data.
