Investors will carefully parse a busy line-up of US corporate earnings for clues about the health of the US economy.
After weeks of strong beats on earnings, investors will also be focused on whether companies can deliver meaningful forward guidance. With macroeconomic data on hold because of the federal government shutdown, earnings reports are one of the primary ways investors are currently able to judge the state of the economy and the durability of corporate growth.
Much of the attention will fall on the tech sector, where artificial intelligence and data centre investments have driven lofty valuations. AI cloud computing company CoreWeave will report on Monday, while semiconductor maker Applied Materials reports on Thursday. Shares in big tech companies fell this past week, as concerns about elevated valuations wiped more than $900bn from the market value of eight of the most valuable AI-related stocks. Strong earnings in the coming week could help those prices recover.