This is the busiest earnings week of the year on Wall Street, with hundreds of companies, including several of the world's largest, due to report quarterly results.
Verizon kicked things off Monday morning, reporting before the opening bell. The week's real centerpiece comes Tuesday with Coca-Cola, Boeing, UPS and HSBC reporting in the morning, followed by Visa after the close. Wednesday brings Microsoft and Alphabet, both reporting after markets close, with investors focused on how much of their enormous spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure is translating into cloud revenue and profit growth. Thursday is the single busiest day of the week, with more than 200 companies reporting, including Amazon and the drugmaker Eli Lilly. The week wraps up Friday with oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron reporting alongside Dominion Energy.
The stakes are unusually high this quarter. Technology companies have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into data centers and AI chips over the past two years, and investors are increasingly asking when that spending will show up more clearly in earnings rather than just in future promises. Alphabet and Microsoft are both expected to see outsized stock price swings around their reports, reflecting how much is riding on these results for the broader market, given how large a share of major indexes these companies now represent.
Beyond Big Tech, the week also offers a read on the broader economy: Boeing's results will be watched for signs of recovery in aircraft deliveries, UPS for a read on shipping volumes and consumer demand heading into the holidays, and the oil majors for how they are managing through a period of elevated crude prices.
Microsoft and Alphabet report Wednesday after the close, with Amazon following Thursday, the two days likely to set the tone for markets the rest of the week.
Why does this earnings week matter so much?
It includes several of the largest companies in the world by market value, so their results can move the broader stock market significantly.
What will investors be watching for most closely?
Whether heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure by companies like Microsoft and Alphabet is starting to show up clearly in revenue and profit.