US equity markets are likely to remain volatile during the coming week as investors remain squarely focused on the outlook for interest rates and their impact on economic growth.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at a Wall Street Journal conference Tuesday afternoon amid speculation that the central bank will be more aggressive in its fight to slow down inflation, which continues to run near a four-decade high.
Investors have priced in a half-point interest rate hike at the June Fed meeting and another in July, with possibly a third in September. The central bank raised its Fed funds target rate by a half point this month, after a quarter point hike in March.
Though markets recovered some of their lost ground on Friday, the S&P 500′s dip to 3,858.87 on Thursday took the index to a decline of 19.55% from its high on an intraday basis—very close to the official 20% decline for a bear market.
Aside from inflation and worries about growth, investors will also be watching some important earnings releases in the upcoming week. Here are three we're following:
1. Zoom Video Communications
Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) will report first quarter earnings for its fiscal 2023 year after the market closes on Monday, May 23. Analysts are forecasting $0.87 a share profit on sales of $1.07 billion.
The video communications platform leader thrived during the pandemic, when stay-at-home requirements and remote work trends boosted this San Jose, California-based tech company's sales significantly. During that period, sales and profit had consistently beaten estimates every quarter, and the company kept raising its guidance.
But Zoom is now struggling to maintain that pace of growth as many in-person activities—including working from offices and classrooms—resume, making investors skeptical about ZM’s stock’s future potential.
To deal with this slowdown, the company has expanded its suite of products in a bid to broaden its business and ease investor fears. This year, Zoom unveiled a new cloud contact center product. The company is also selling an Internet-enabled replacement for landline phones and technology to help organizations improve meetings that involve remote and in-office workers.
ZM stock closed on Friday at $89.74, down more than 50% this year.
2. NVIDIA Corporation
Semiconductor giant NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) will report its first quarter, FY2023 earnings on Wednesday, May 25 after the market close. Analysts expect the chipmaker to produce an EPS of $1.30 on revenues of $8.12 billion.
The Santa Clara, California-based chip manufacturer is the biggest producer of graphics chips used in personal computers and gaming. Over the past few years, NVDA has successfully adapted its technology for the Artificial Intelligence market, creating an additional, new, multi-billion-dollar line of business.
NVIDIA has averaged more than 50% revenue growth over the last nine quarters. That performance helped make it one of the top 10 companies by market value on the S&P 500 and one of the most loved chip sector stocks.
Despite the soaring demand for its products, NVDA shares have shed more than 50% of value since the latest peak reached in November as investors shunned high-growth companies amid rising interest rates and concerns about future growth.
The stock closed on Friday at $166.94, its lowest level in about a year.
3. Costco Wholesale
One of the US's largest discount retailers, Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) will report its fiscal 2022 third quarter results on Thursday, May 26 after the close. Analysts expect $3.06 a share in profit on sales of $51.28 billion.
After a series of disappointing earnings from Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT) last week, investors have pared back their retailer expectations, many of whom are facing a variety of challenges.
Shares of Walmart, Target and other big chains have been falling significantly, the most since the market crash of 1987, amid fears that these companies wouldn’t be able to pass along higher prices to consumers even as they continue to deal with the supply-chain disruptions.
Costco shares tumbled more than 15% last week, closing at $416.43 on Friday.