The market was flat to start the week as the S&P 500 remained unchanged Monday. Earnings will be a heavy theme this week once again as a large number of big retailers are set to report. Meanwhile, economic data is relatively light this week with the highlights being retail sales tomorrow as well as housing starts and building permits data on Wednesday.
Movers on Monday included Tesla (TSLA) as Elon Musk engaged with Bernie Sanders over Twitter (welcome to the modern era) to discuss taxing the rich and if he should sell even more shares of Tesla. Additionally, shares of Boeing (BA) rose after its head of commercial airplanes told Bloomberg it hopes China will resume orders of its 737 Max soon.
Retail Sales and Housing Data
Monthly retail sales data is scheduled to be released early Tuesday morning and is expected to show a 1.2% rise in sales for October. Overall sales have had a strong past two months with a 0.7% and 0.9% increase in September and August respectively. General merchandise sales have pushed the last couple months of overall sales higher. Additionally, a 5.7% jump in e-retailing sales in August and 1.8% rise in gasoline stations in September drove overall sales higher in those respective months.
Meanwhile, Wednesday morning is led by new housing data with Housing Starts and Building Permits for October on the docket. Housing starts are expected to increase from September’s 1.56 million to 1.59 million last month. Building permits are currently estimated to rise similarly with a jump from 1.59 million in September to 1.64 million in October. The strength of retail sales and housing market should be an interesting measure on the health of the economy as the Fed looks to avoid an overheating economy and high inflation.
Lastly, Industrial Production data on Wednesday is expected to show a 1.0% increase in October while Capacity Utilization is forecasted to inch higher from 75.2% to 75.9%. Initial unemployment claims are expected to fall from 267,000 to 260,000.
Retail Earnings
Along with retail sales, a large batch of massive retailers are expected to report quarterly results this week such as Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Lowe’s (LOW), Home Depot (HD), and Macy’s (M). All five of these large retailers are expected to report slightly better earnings than in the year-ago quarter that was still heavily impacted by the coronavirus. Macy’s in particular is expected to report earnings per share (EPS) of $0.31 after recording a loss in its 2020 fourth quarter.
Many non-retailers are set to report as well with some of the biggest names being Cisco (CSCO) and Nvidia (NVDA). Nvidia has managed to improve its earnings per share each of the past four quarters while surpassing analysts estimates each time and is expected to do so again. The semiconductor and tech shortage has hurt many consumers but with demand for GPUs at an all time high as crypto continues to surge, Nvidia isn’t exactly struggling with that supply chain disruption. Meanwhile, Cisco has also managed to surpass estimates and its previous quarter EPS over the past four months and is expected to inch ever so slightly higher this quarter compared to its last once again.
Economic Events this Week
Tuesday
- 8:30 a.m. - Retail Sales
- 9:15 a.m. - Industrial Production
- 9:15 a.m.- Capacity Utilization
Wednesday
- 8:30 a.m. - Housing Starts
- 8:30 a.m. - Building Permits
Thursday
- 8:30 a.m. - Initial & Continuing Claims
Earnings Reports This Week
Monday:
After the bell:
AAP, RXT, JJSF
Tuesday:
Before the bell:
WMT, HD, NTES, ARMK, SE, DOYU, GDS
After the bell:
STNE, LZB, DLB
Wednesday:
Before the bell:
BIDU, TGT, LOW, TJX, IQ, BILI, MTOR
After the bell:
CSCO, ZTO, NVDA, BBWI, VSCO
Thursday:
Before the bell:
JD, BABA, VIPS, M, KSS, BJ, BERY, WOOF
After the bell:
AMAT, ROST, WSM, BECN, INTU
Friday:
Before the bell:
FL
Sector and Industry Sentiment
You can now see which sectors and industries are performing best for each of our metrics using our Sector and Industry Analysis tools.
