Week Ahead: Busy Earnings Lineup and Jobs Data Set to Challenge US Stocks

Key Highlights:

• S&P futures slip as investors brace for a heavy week of corporate earnings and central bank meetings.
• U.S. payrolls report looms as a key economic test for market direction.
• Nikkei posts a rare gain amid polls indicating a likely LDP majority win in Japan.
• Gold and silver tumble after volatile trading Friday, adding to market nervousness.
• Dollar steadies while the yen remains soft; Asian shares generally follow Wall Street futures lower.
• About 25% of S&P 500 firms report earnings this week, including Alphabet, Amazon, and Eli Lilly.
• Monthly U.S. jobs report arrives after the Fed paused rate cuts, a key input for policy outlook.
• Dollar surged after reports President Trump picked Kevin Warsh to lead the Fed, boosting the greenback as precious metals plunged; CFTC data shows asset managers raised bearish dollar positions by $8.3 billion in the week to Jan. 27.
• Copper slid further Monday, extending last week’s steep losses as metals traders brace for ongoing volatility; U.S. natural gas futures plunged, reversing Friday’s surge after milder near-term weather forecasts.
• Bitcoin slipped under $76,000 in thin weekend trading, about 40% down from its 2025 peak. The cryptocurrency has shown little reaction to geopolitical tensions, dollar weakness or risk rallies, with demand fading, liquidity thinning and social media sentiment lacking optimism.

Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures dropped Sunday night. The federal government entered another shutdown on Saturday, though it is expected to be resolved quickly.

This week’s heavy earnings slate is led by Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Disney (NYSE:DIS), with Disney reporting early Monday.

US Economic data and Earnings Calendar:

Wall Street will also watch the U.S. monthly jobs report due Feb. 6. This week the Fed signaled some labor-market stabilization when it paused its rate-cutting cycle.

Fed officials will monitor hiring after last week’s decision to hold rates steady, citing persistent inflation risks despite slower job growth; some officials still argue for further rate cuts to support employment. Investors will also track February consumer sentiment, consumer credit data, and PMI readings for manufacturing and services.

Economic calendar:

• Mon, 02/02: ISM manufacturing PMI (Jan); Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaking.
• Tue, 02/03: Job openings (Dec).
• Wed, 02/04: ADP employment (Jan); Fed Governor Lisa Cook speaking; ISM services PMI (Jan) to watch.
• Thu, 02/05: Initial jobless claims (week ending 01/31).

Fri, 02/06: U.S. employment report (Jan); also watch preliminary consumer sentiment (Feb) and consumer credit.

Earnings calendar:

• Mon, 02/02: Palantir (PLTR), Disney (DIS), Mizuho Financial (MFG)
• Tue, 02/03: AMD (AMD), Merck (MRK), Amgen (AMGN), Pfizer (PFE), PepsiCo (PEP)
• Wed, 02/04: Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Eli Lilly (LLY), AbbVie (ABBV), Novartis (NVS), Novo Nordisk (NVO), Uber (UBER), Qualcomm (QCOM)
• Thu, 02/05: Amazon (AMZN), Philip Morris (PM), Shell (SHEL), ConocoPhillips (COP), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)
• Fri, 02/06: Toyota Motors (TM)Monday

Amazon (AMZN) jumped after reporting Q3 results: adjusted EPS $1.95 (+36%), revenue $180.2B (+13%); AWS revenue rose 20% to $33B and ad sales climbed 24% to $17.7B. The Wall Street Journal says Amazon is in talks to invest as much as $50B in OpenAI; the company has already put $8B into Anthropic, with AWS as that firm’s primary cloud and training partner using Trainium and Inferentia chips. FactSet forecasts Amazon’s Q4 EPS at $1.96 (+6%) and revenue $211.4B (+13%).

FactSet estimates AMD (AMD) will report Q4 EPS of $1.32 and revenue of $9.65B; for the next quarter analysts forecast EPS $1.23 and revenue $9.38B. Some analysts expect AMD to beat Q4 estimates when it reports on Feb. 3.
Analysts expect Alphabet (GOOGL) to report quarterly EPS of $2.58, up 20% year‑over‑year, on revenue of $94.7 billion, a 16% increase. Consensus EPS for the quarter has been revised down 0.4% over the past 30 days.

Technical Analysis:

DJIA Index

• The DJIA index is trading within a rectangle consolidation.
• Prices are compressing between 49,700 and 48,450.
• A decisive break above or below this band will likely determine the next trend.

DJIA Daily Candlestick Chart

Nasdaq 100 Index

• The NDX could not hold gains above 25,860 last week.
• The index is range-bound between 25,860 and 25,200, with stronger support around 24,650.
• A decisive break below 25,200 would raise the risk of a slide toward 24,650.
• If 25,200 holds on repeated tests, expect continued choppy trading between 25,860 and 25,200.

NDX Daily Candlestick Chart

SPX Index

• SPX has been trading around the 6,900–6,890 area for several weeks.
• 7,000 remains a key psychological resistance for bulls.
• Expect range-bound action between 7,000 and 6,880 for now.
• A break below 6,880 would likely lead to a deeper pullback toward 6,830.

SPX Daily Candlestick Chart

Weekly US Indices Probability Map:

• The U.S. weekly market probability map for Feb 02 - 06, 2026 suggests the week opens and wraps up with strength!
• These probability maps are derived from historical seasonality patterns.
• The sentiment readings are driven by a seasonality-based scoring system.

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Ali Merchant is a seasoned financial market professional with expertise in Technical Analysis, Treasury & Capital Markets, Trading, Sales, Research, Training, Fund & Relationship Management, Fintech, and Digitalization. He is a CMT charter holder and an active member of CMT Association, USA, American Association of Professional Technical Analysts, and CMT Association of Canada. He has worked on various roles and organizations in North America and the GCC, such as ABN Amro bank, Thomson Reuters, Refinitiv, MAK Allen & Day Capital Partners, and Bridge Information Systems.

He is the founder of TwT Learnings, provides financial market training.

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