1. Will Twitter Keep Social Media’s Earnings Streak Going?
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) bucks the social media and tech trend and reports earnings before the bell tomorrow, rather than postmarket.
The company is expected to report a quarterly profit of 25 cents per share on revenue of about $868 million, according to analyst forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
Monthly active users, which have declined as Twitter works to purge fake accounts, are expected to come in at 321 million, according to FactSet.
Shares have recovered from the broader market swoon in December, rising 29.1% since the Dec. 24 bottom. They are down just slightly in the last three months. But the stock is still far of from its June highs in the mid-$40s.
Also tomorrow, Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) will report results, as will coffee chain Dunkin (NASDAQ:DNKN).
2. Powell Parsing Plus More Fed Speak
Investors will have more thoughts from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell by the opening bell tomorrow, with many looking to see if his dovish tilt continues.
Powell is speaking at a town hall with teachers on the Fed, the economy and consumer finance issues tonight. He is scheduled to speak at 7 PM ET (00:00 GMT Thursday), and there may be a few where-are-rates-headed questions squeezed in.
In addition, two more FOMC members are set to speak tomorrow.
Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 9:30 AM ET at the Czech National Bank in Prague. Clarida will present a paper titled “The Global Factor in Neutral Policy Rates.”
At 7:30 PM ET, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak on monetary policy and the U.S. economy at the 57th Winter Institute at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
3. Jobless Claims Seen Falling
After mostly uninspiring economic data this week, the market will be hoping for some reassurance from labor market, which has remained strong.
The weekly initial jobless claims numbers come at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT).
On average, economists expect that claims for first-time initial jobless benefits to fall to 221,000, according to Investing.com.
Claims are expected to ease following the sharpest spike in a year last week following the Federal government shutdown. Nonfarm payrolls for January posted a better-than-expected gain, by contrast.