What a week.
In both markets and politics, this past week seems likely to be the summer’s busiest.
Almost 200 members of the S&P 500 reported earnings, among them Amazon (AMZN), Starbucks (SBUX), and Alphabet (GOOGL), which all declined after results.
Meanwhile Facebook (FB), Boeing (BA), and Verizon (VZ) all popped after results that topped estimates.
And jammed in the middle there was an uneventful Federal Reserve announcement that saw the central bank keep its interest rate policy unchanged. On the economic front, the first estimate of second quarter GDP came in a bit weaker than expected, with the economy growing at an annualized rate of 2.6% for the three months ending in June.
On the political side, Senate Republicans failed to get a so-called “skinny repeal” of Obamacare through, while President Donald Trump added a new member to his communications staff — hedge funder Anthony Scaramucci. “The Mooch” then had what he called a “colorful” conversation with The New Yorker.
And then at 4:50 p.m. ET on Friday, Trump named General John Kelly Chief of Staff, replacing Reince Priebus. Quite a week in the Trump administration.
Through it all, the Dow hit a new record, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed the week just off fresh records they touched on Wednesday.
In the week ahead, the month’s biggest economic report — the July jobs report — will come out on Friday, with economists expecting 180,000 jobs were adding during the month while the unemployment rate should fall to 4.3%. Other key reports will be reading on inflation and manufacturing activity.
On the earnings calendar, notable earnings will include the world’s biggest company, Apple (AAPL) on Tuesday. Also, we’ll hear from Pfizer (PFE), Xerox (XRX), Under Armour (UAA), Time Warner (TWX), Humana (HUM), Mondelez (MDLZ), Metlife (MET), Yum Brands (YUM), Kellogg (K), Viacom (VIAB), and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B).
Investors will also keep on eye on shares of Snap Inc. (SNAP) on Monday, as the company’s post-IPO lockup period expires, leaving open the chance for many company insiders to sell their shares into the market for the first time.
Economic calendar
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Monday: Chicago PMI, July (60 expected; 65.7 previously); Pending home sales, June (+1% expected; -0.8% previously); Dallas Fed manufacturing, July (13 expected; 15 previously)
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Tuesday: Personal income, June (+0.4% expected; +0.4% previously); Personal spending, June (+0.1% expected; +0.1% previously); “Core” PCE, year-on-year, June (+1.4% expected; +1.4% previously); Markit manufacturing PMI, July (53.2 expected; 53.2 previously); ISM manufacturing, July (56.4 expected; 57.8 previously); Construction spending, June (+0.5% expected; +0% previously); Auto sales, July (16.8 million cars annualized, expected; 16.41 million cars annualized, previously)
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Wednesday: ADP private payrolls, July (+190,000 expected; +158,000 previously)
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Thursday: Initial jobless claims (241,000 expected; 244,000 previously); Markit US services PMI, July (54.2 previously); ISM non-manufacturing PMI, July (56.9 expected; 57.4 previously); Factory orders, June (+2.8% expected; -0.8% previously)
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Friday: Nonfarm payrolls, July (+180,000 expected; +222,000 previously); Unemployment rate, July (4.3% expected; 4.4% previously); Average hourly earnings, month-on-month, July (+0.3% expected; +0.2% previously); Average hourly earnings, year-on-year, July (+2.4% expected; +2.5% previously); Trade balance, June (-$45 billion expected; -$46.5 billion previously)