Earnings, Retail Sales and Other Key Things to Watch This Week

Gavin McMaster - Barchart - Sun Jan 14, 2:00PM CST

Bitcoin was one of the main news items last week with various Bitcoin ETF’s being approved by the SEC. According to Reuters, $4.6 billion worth of Bitcoin ETF’s traded hands as of Thursday afternoon. That didn’t help bitcoin related stock with Coinbase (COIN) down 15% for the week and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) down 21%. Despite this, the S&P 500 ($SPX) (SPY) closed 1.87% higher for the week.

Tesla (TSLA) had a tough week, dropping 7.83% following price cuts in China and a temporary factory halt in Germany. On top of that Hertz (HTZ) announced that it is cutting back on the amount of electric vehicles in their fleet.

This week is a short week with no trading on Monday due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Earnings season continues with Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) some of the key stocks to watch. Other than that we have more earnings, retail sales and jobless claims to keep an eye on.

Here are 5 things to watch this week in the Market.

Earnings

Earnings season continues in earnest this week, with banks and energy names in focus. Some key companies to watch are Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and PNC Bank (PNC) on Tuesday, Charles Schwab (SCHW), US Bankcorp (USB) and Kinder Morgan (KMI) on Wednesday and Schlumberger (SLB) on Friday. Last week, earnings season did not get off to a great start with most bank stocks trading lower.

Retail Sales

Retail sales is due out at 8:30 Eastern on Wednesday morning, and this report shows the total value of sales at the retail level. This is a broad look at consumer spending habits over the previous month. If this comes in stronger than expected it could be further proof that we are heading back to a normal economy in the post covid world. The previous reading came in at 0.3% and the forecast for this month is 0.4%.

Initial Jobless Claims

Initial Jobless Claims measures the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week. This is the earliest U.S. economic data, but the market impact varies from week to week. Last week, initial jobless claims inched lower by 1,000 to 202,000, less than the forecasted reading of 210,000. That was the lowest level since mid-October. This week, the market is estimating claims of 204,000. Initial jobless claims have come in lower than expected in four out of the last five weeks.

Existing Home Sales

Existing Home Sales measures the change in the annualized number of existing residential buildings that were sold during the prior month. This report helps to gauge the strength of the U.S. housing market and is an important indicator of overall economic strength. As far as how the market reacts, if we beat and the housing market is still hot it's possible we see the market fade as it could be seen as a reason for the Fed to hold rates high or even possibly hike them again. If it's a miss it's possible the market rallies on the hopes rate cuts.

OPEC Monthly Report

The OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report covers major issues affecting the world oil market and provides an outlook for crude oil market developments for the coming year. The monthly report is due out at 7am ET on Wednesday with traders keen to gauge expectations for oil demand. Crude oil has been hovering near 12-months lows around $70 per barrel for the last six weeks.

Best of luck this week and don’t forget to check out my daily options article.

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On the date of publication, Gavin McMaster did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.