All three major equity indexes closed at record highs last week, each rising about 2%. A softer-than-expected inflation reading from the Bureau of Labor Statistics buoyed investor sentiment on Friday.
A day earlier, the White House confirmed that President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Oct. 30 in South Korea at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, raising hopes for a longer-term trade deal between the two countries.
The 3% year-over-year increase in the consumer price index, while a full percentage point more than the Federal Reserve's target, was one-tenth of a percentage point less than expected. That data point all but seals a quarter-point rate cut at the Federal Open Market Committee's confab, which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Indeed, it will be a busy week for central banks around the globe, with the Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan, and European Central Bank among those announcing their monetary policy decisions.
Investors will also get earnings releases from about 160 S&P 500 companies, the busiest week on the third-quarter earnings calendar, led by Big Tech.
UnitedHealth Group and Visa announce results on Tuesday, followed by Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft on Wednesday. Amazon.com, Apple, Eli Lilly, and Mastercard will release earnings on Thursday, and oil giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil will close out the week on Friday.
Monday 10/27
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Brown & Brown, Cadence Design Systems, Cincinnati Financial, F5, Hartford Insurance Group, Keurig Dr Pepper, Nucor, NXP Semiconductors, Principal Financial Group, Revvity, Universal Health Services, Waste Management, and Welltower announce quarterly results.
Tuesday 10/28
American Tower, A.O. Smith, Booking Holdings, BXP, Carrier Global, Corning, CoStar Group, D.R. Horton, Ecolab, Edison International, Electronic Arts, Equity Residential, Expand Energy, Hubbell, Incyte, Invesco, Iqvia, Labcorp Holdings, Mondelez International, MSCI, NextEra Energy, Novartis, Oneok, PayPal Holdings, PPG Industries, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Royal Caribbean Group, Seagate Technology Holdings, Sherwin-Williams, SoFi Technologies, Sysco, Teradyne, UnitedHealth, United Parcel Service, Veralto, Visa, Wayfair, Xylem, and Zebra Technologies release earnings.
S&P Cotality releases its National Home Price Index for August. Home prices rose 1.7% year over year in July, the weakest rate of growth in two years. New York and Chicago were the strongest metro markets tracked by S&P, both increasing by more than 6%. Tampa and San Francisco were the weakest markets, with home prices falling by 2.8% and 1.9%, respectively, from a year earlier.
The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index for October. The consensus estimate is for a 93.4 reading, about one point less than in September.
Wednesday 10/29
Alphabet, Automatic Data Processing, AvalonBay Communities, American Water Works, Boeing, Caterpillar, Centene, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Cognizant Technology Solutions, CVS Health, DaVita, Dayforce, eBay, Entergy, Equinix, Extra Space Storage, Fiserv, Fortive, GE HealthCare Technologies, Generac Holdings, GSK, IDEX, Invitation Homes, Kraft Heinz, KLAC, Masco, Mid-American Apartment Communities, MercadoLibre, Meta, MGM Resorts International, Microsoft, NiSource, Old Dominion Freight Line, Otis Worldwide, Phillips 66, Prudential Financial, $Public Storage(PSA-N)$, Rollins, ServiceNow, Starbucks, Tyler Technologies, UBS Group, Ventas, Verisk Analytics, and Verizon Communications report quarterly results.
The National Association of Realtors reports pending home sales for September. Economists forecast a 1% month-over-month increase, after a 4% gain in August.
The Federal Open Market Committee announces its monetary policy decision. A quarter-percentage-point rate cut, bringing the federal-funds rate to 3.75% to 4%, is all but a done deal. Wall Street is more interested in Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference and how many more rate cuts can be expected this year and into early 2026. Multiple Fed governors have emphasized the downside risk to the labor market in speeches since the mid-September FOMC meeting. Traders are pricing in a greater than 95% chance of a quarter-point rate cut at the December meeting and a federal-funds rate of 3% to 3.25% by June of next year, a full percentage point less than it is currently.
Thursday 10/30
Altria Group, Amazon, Ameren, Ameriprise Financial, Anheuser Busch-InBev, Apple, Arthur J. Gallagher, Baxter International, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Builders FirstSource, Cardinal Health, Cigna Group, CMS Energy, Coinbase Global, Comcast, DexCom, Edwards Lifesciences, Eli Lilly, Erie Indemnity, Estee Launder, First Solar, Fox, Gilead Sciences, GoDaddy, Hershey, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Ingersoll Rand, Intercontinental Exchange, International Paper, Kellanova, Kimberly-Clark, Kimco Realty, L3Harris Technologies, Mastercard, Merck, Monolithic Power Solutions, Motorola Solutions, Quanta Services, Reddit, Republic Services, ResMed, Roblox, Shell, Southern Co., S&P Global, Stryker, Vulcan Materials, Western Digital, WEC Energy Group, Weyerhaeuser, and Xcel Energy announce earnings.
President Trump is scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Gyeongju, South Korea, which is hosting this year's Asian-Pacific Summit. The White House confirmed the meeting last Thursday, after weeks of uncertainty. The scheduled face-to-face meeting has lifted hopes of a de-escalation in trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.
The European Central Bank and Bank of Japan announce their monetary policy decisions. Both central banks are widely expected to keep their key short-term interest rates unchanged at 2% and 0.5%, respectively.
Friday 10/31
AbbVie, Cboe Global Markets, Charter Communications, Chevron, Church & Dwight, Colgate-Palmolive, Dominion Energy, Exxon Mobil, Linde, LyondellBasell Industries, T. Rowe Price Group, and W.W. Grainer report quarterly results.