This Week's Stocks To Watch: Walmart, Alibaba, Moderna

The U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday in observance of Presidents Day. The next few days will be filled with earnings reports and economic data, so investors can look forward to a busy week.

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Among the companies set to report their results on Tuesday are Home Depot, Walmart, and Palo Alto Networks, followed by Lucid Group LCID +2.82%, eBay EBAY -0.86%, and TJX on Wednesday. Thursday's crowded list of stocks includes Alibaba BABA -3.11%, Autodesk, Block, Booking Holdings, Intuit, Keurig Dr. Pepper KDP -0.64%, Moderna, Newmont, and Warner Bros. Discovery WBD +0.78%.

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Purchasing Manager's Indexes for February will be published by S&P Global on Tuesday, as well as the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index. In terms of manufacturing PMI, the consensus estimates are for a reading of 47.2, and for service PMI, a reading of 46.7, both of which are in line with January's data. In addition to this, the National Association of Realtors will also report existing-home sales for January. 4.1 million homes are expected to be sold on an annualized basis on a seasonally adjusted basis.

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Minutes from the FED's monetary policy meeting in early February will be released on Wednesday.

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A second estimate of gross domestic product growth for the fourth quarter was released on Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.5% was forecast by economists for the GDP increase in the coming year.

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On Friday, the BEA is scheduled to release its report for January's income and expenditures, which will wrap things up for the month. The consensus expectation is for incomes to rise 1% in the month ahead, and for spending to rise 1% in the month ahead.

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Monday 2/20

In observance of Presidents Day, equity and fixed-income markets are closed.

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Tuesday 2/21

Home Depot, Ingersoll Rand, Keysight Technologies, Medtronic, Molson Coors Beverage, Palo Alto Networks, Public Service Enterprise Group, Public Storage, Realty Income, SBA Communications, and Walmart have announced their earnings for the quarter.

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Purchasing Managers' Indexes for Manufacturing and Services are released by S&P Global in February. Approximately in line with the January data, consensus estimates predict a Manufacturing PMI reading of 47.2 and a Services PMI reading of 46.7. In November, both PMIs were below 50, indicating contraction in their respective fields.

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There has been an increase in existing-home sales in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. In terms of seasonally adjusted annual sales, it is expected that 4.1 million homes will be sold in the coming year, 80,000 more than in December. Despite the Federal Reserve's hikes in interest rates, existing-home sales have fallen for 11 consecutive months, showing that the housing market is among the sectors most sensitive to the Fed's interest-rate hikes.

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Wednesday 2/22

Nvidia reports its fourth-quarter fiscal-2023 results. Due to the release of the AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT late last year, shares of the world's largest semiconductor company have rocketed 46% higher this year.

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Quarterly results are released by Coterra Energy, DaVita, eBay, Lucid Group, Pioneer Natural Resources, and TJX Cos.

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As part of its monetary policy meeting held in early February, the Federal Open Market Committee releases the minutes of its meeting. There have been several economic data releases since the Fed meeting, including the blowout jobs report and hotter-than-expected consumer price index and producer price index, which have challenged the disinflation narrative presented by Fed Chairman Powell at his postmeeting press conference.

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Thursday 2/23

An upcoming earnings conference call will take place for several companies, including Alibaba Group Holding, American Electric Power, American Tower, Autodesk, Block, Booking Holdings, Intuit, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Moderna, Newmont, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

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It is estimated that the gross domestic product will grow by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.5% is forecast, four-tenths of a percentage point less than the BEA's preliminary estimate released in January.

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Friday 2/24

Personal income and expenditures for January are reported by the BEA. Both income and spending rose 1%, month over month, according to the consensus. Comparatively, December's gains and losses were 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively. The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, is expected to rise 4.3% year over year, one-tenth of a percentage point less than previously anticipated.