What a surge the stock market saw last week! All three of the major market indices pressed higher throughout the past five trading days, with the real move higher coming on Thursday and Friday. One primary driver behind the sharp rise comprised the solid corporate earnings reports, which are shaping up to deliver stronger-than-expected growth than had been expected at the start of the September quarter. The other catalyst came in the form of the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) stimulative efforts.
There are three things to note here. First, following in the footsteps of the European Central Bank (ECB), the BoJ has launched its own bond-buying efforts, and this has elevated the dollar to the near seven-year high against the Japanese yen. Second, we continue to watch the strengthening dollar with hawk-like eyes, as a sustained climb could weigh on corporate income statements in the coming months. Lastly, these BoJ and ECB paddle-of-life efforts come at a time when the Federal Reserve has halted its own printing presses. That suggests we will see several two-speed economies, both inside the U.S. and on the world stage.
Yes, we said, "two-speed economies." The U.S. is the clear driver of global gross domestic product (GDP) growth, given the state of the economies in the eurozone and China.
A slate of purchasing managers index (PMI) data are due this week, and these numbers will inform us as to whether overseas economies are continuing on their nose-dive vector, or if they bottomed in October. While that latter possibility would be nice, we are not holding out hope for it. After all, China growth came in lower for October, per last week's China PMI reading from China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (which issues the numbers with the National Bureau of Statistics).
In the U.S. we continue to get numbers that point to rising personal income, but choppy consumer spending as well. While we see falling gas prices as a tax cut for the consumer, he and she must still contend with higher food bills -- and recent increases in prices for beef, among other commodities, suggest that we will be here for at least a while longer. In October, the price farmers received for livestock was reported as 26% higher than it had been a year earlier, and the price for meat animals 28% higher, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) preliminary findings.
On top of that comes the need for folks to save for retirement. A new Wells Fargo/Gallup survey of investors shows that almost half of respondents are "very" or "somewhat" worried about outliving their savings. (Among non-retirees, that number came to 50%, and the retirees' figure was 36%.)
To us this says that, among the litany of economic data we'll get this week, one of the key points to watch will be wage growth in Friday's October employment report. Unlike the bullish National Retail Federation, Nielsen sees 2014 holiday sales rising just 1.9% year over year -- a far lower rate than what we saw last year.
That must be why companies such as Wal-Mart (WMT) are already banging the holiday sales drums, having kicked off the holiday shopping season this past weekend. Deals typically reserved for Black Friday and Cyber Monday are set to start on Walmart.com shortly after midnight, PST, on Monday, Nov. 3. In that vein, Versace continues to like shares of United Parcel Service (UPS) and Visa (V).
Turning to the earnings calendar, the pace of releases this week will slow somewhat from more than 150 S&P 500 companies down to "just" 86. Even so, a number of key reports are due out this week, including from Dow Jones Industrial Average component Disney (DIS). Also slated for the coming five sessions are numbers from Michael Kors (KORS), Sprint (S), Estee Lauder (EL), Priceline (PCLN) and Skyworks Solutions (SWKS). Then there's the company we like to watch to see if it delivers tingling results -- Church & Dwight (CHD) -- that may get a rise out of Wall Street analysts.
Separately, much as with GoPro (GPRO), we expect newly debuted Alibaba (BABA) to deliver on expectations when the company reports its first quarter as a public company this week. Call us cynical, but it would be nothing short of a disaster for Alibaba to deliver a flub -- t we doubt CEO Jack Ma intends to do that.
Below is a more detailed look at what's coming at you in the week ahead. Be sure to check back midweek for The Corner of Wall & Main, in which we will dish on the first half of the trading week and other key matters and thoughts, as well as how to play it all.
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Economic Calendar
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Monday, Nov. 3
| Report | Time Period |
| HSBC China Manufacturing PMI | October |
| Markit Eurozone Manufacturing PMI | October |
| Markit US Manufacturing PMI | October |
| JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI | October |
| ISM Index | October |
| Construction Spending | September |
| Auto Sales | October |
| Truck Sales | October |
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Tuesday, Nov. 4
| Report | Time Period |
| Trade Balance | September |
| Factory Orders | September |
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Wednesday, Nov. 5
| Report | Time Period |
| HSBC China Services PMI | October |
| Markit Eurozone Composite PMI | October |
| Markit US Services PMI | October |
| MBA Mortgage Index | Weekly |
| ADP Employment Change | October |
| ISM Services | October |
| Crude Inventories | Weekly |
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Thursday, Nov. 6
| Report | Time Period |
| Challenger Job Cuts | October |
| Initial Claims | Weekly |
| Continuing Claims | Weekly |
| Productivity-Preliminary | Third Quarter |
| Unit Labor Costs | Third Quarter |
| Natural Gas Inventories | Weekly |
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Friday, Nov. 7
| Report | Time Period |
| HSBC Emerging Markets PMI | October |
| Employment Report | October |
| Unemployment Rate | October |
| Hourly Earnings | October |
| Average Workweek | October |
| Consumer Credit | September |
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Earnings Calendar
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Monday, Nov. 3
| Ticker | Company |
| ACW | Accuride Corp |
| ACXM | Acxiom Corp |
| ALE | Allete Inc. |
| CHD | Church & Dwight |
| CHGG | Chegg Inc. |
| CKP | Check Point Systems |
| CUTR | Cutera Inc |
| GVA | Granite Construction |
| L | Loews Corp |
| LF | LeapFrog Enterprises |
| NLS | Nautilus Inc |
| NTRI | NutriSystem |
| PRTS | Us Auto Parts |
| RLD | RealD Inc |
| RNWK | RealNetworks |
| S | Sprint Corp |
| SALE | RetailMeNot Inc. |
| SNH | Senior Housing |
| SOHU | Sohu.com Inc. |
| SYY | Sysco Corp |
| TXRH | Texas Roadhouse |
| USAK | USA Truck Inc. |
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Tuesday, Nov. 4
| Ticker | Company |
| ACUR | Acura Pharmaceuticals |
| ADEP | Adept Tech Inc. |
| ADM | Archer Daniels |
| AGU | Agrium Inc |
| AIG | American International Group |
| AKS | AK Steel Holding |
| AMTG | Apollo Residential Mortgage |
| APL | Atlas Pipeline Partners |
| ATVI | Activision Blizzard |
| BABA | Alibaba Group |
| BKW | Burger King Worldwide |
| BLMN | Bloomin' Brands |
| CKEC | Carmike Cinema |
| COUP | Coupons.com Inc |
| CSU | Capital Senior Living |
| CVD | Covance Inc. |
| CVS | CVS Caremark Corp. |
| CXW | Corrections Corp. |
| CYH | Community Health Systems |
| DISCA | Discovery Communicatios |
| DISH | Dish Network Corp. |
| DOX | Amdocs Ltd |
| EL | Estee Lauder |
| EMR | Emerson Elec Co. |
| FEYE | FireEye Inc |
| HLF | Herbalife Ltd |
| IEP | Icahn Enterprises |
| IFF | International Flavors & Fragrances |
| IP | Intl Paper |
| KORS | Michael Kors |
| KTCC | Key Tronic |
| LBY | Libbey Inc |
| MRO | Marathon Oil Corp. |
| MSI | Motorola Solutions |
| MWW | Monster WWD Inc. |
| OTTR | Otter Tail Corp |
| PBPB | Potbelly Corp |
| PCLN | Priceline.com |
| RBA | Ritchie Bros |
| RBC | Regal Beloit |
| RCPT | Receptos Inc |
| RGS | Regis Corp |
| RRGB | Red Robin Gourmet |
| SOHO | Sotherly Hotels |
| TESO | Tesco Corp |
| TIME | Time Inc |
| TRIP | TripAdvisor Inc |
| VLO | Valero Energy |
| VMC | Vulcan Materials Co. |
| VNO | Vornado Realty Trust |
| VSI | Vitamin Shoppe |
| ZAGG | Zagg Inc |
| ZBRA | Zebra Technologies |
| ZU | Zulily |
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Wednesday, Nov. 5
| Ticker | Company |
| ACLS | Axcelis Tech |
| ACT | Actavis Plc |
| ACTA | Actua Corporation |
| BLT | Blount Intl |
| BPI | Bridgepoint Education |
| BRP | Brookfield Res |
| BSFT | Broadsoft Inc |
| CBB | Cincinnati Bell |
| CBLI | Cleveland BioLabs |
| CBS | CBS Corp |
| MDLZ | Mondelez International |
| MED | Medifast Inc. |
| MEMP | Memorial Production |
| MGA | Magna International |
| NDLS | Noodles & Co |
| NMRX | Numerex Corp. |
| NUS | Nu Skin Enterprises |
| NWS | News Corp |
| NWSA | News Corp New |
| PWR | Quanta Services |
| PZZA | Papa Johns International |
| QCOM | Qualcomm Inc |
| RUTH | Ruth's Hospitality |
| SCTY | SolarCity Corp |
| SKUL | Skullcandy Inc |
| SSYS | Stratasys Ltd |
| STMP | Stamps.com Inc |
| STWD | Starwood Property |
| SWIR | Sierra Wireless |
| SYMC | Symantec Corp |
| TECU | Tecumseh Products |
| THI | Tim Hortons Inc |
| TSLA | Tesla Motors |
| TWX | Time Warner Inc |
| VVUS | Vivus Inc |
| WBMD | WebMD Health Corp. |
| XXIA | Ixia |
| Z | Zillow Inc |
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Thursday, Nov. 6
| Ticker | Company | |
| AINV | Apollo Investment Corp. | |
| AIRM | Air Methods Corp | |
| AMCX | AMC Networks | |
| AOL | AOL Inc | |
| AWK | American Water Works | |
| BPY | Brookfield Property | |
| CF | CF Indus Holdings | |
| COTY | Coty Inc | |
| COWN | Cowen Group Inc | |
| CXO | Concho Resources | |
| DIS | Disney Walt | |
| DOOR | Masonite International | |
| DTV | DirecTV | |
| DYN | Dynegy Inc | |
| FSLR | First Solar Inc | |
| FUN | Cedar Fair | |
| FWM | Fairway Group | |
| GNW | Genworth Financial | |
| HAIN | Hain Celestial | |
| HSC | Harsco Corp | |
| HSIC | Henry Schein Inc. | |
| KING | King Digital Entertainment | |
| KLIC | Kulicke & Soffa | |
| LOCO | El Pollo Loco | |
| MCP | Molycorp Inc | |
| MDRX | Allscripts Healthcare | |
| MHLD | Maiden Holdings | |
| MIFI | Novatel Wireless. | |
| MM | Millennial Media | |
| MNST | Monster Beverage | |
| NLY | Annaly Capital Management | |
| NVDA | Nvidia Corp | |
| OWW | Orbitz Worldwide | |
| PBH | Prestige Brands | |
| PKD | Parker Drilling | |
| POZN | Pozen Inc | |
| PRGO | Perrigo Co Plc | |
| RBCN | Rubicon Technology | |
| ROVI | Rovi Corp | |
| SF | Stifel Financial | |
| SFM | Sprouts Farmers Market | |
| SFY | Swift Energy Co | |
| SNI | Scripps Networks | |
| SSTK | Shutterstock | |
| SWKS | Skyworks Solutions | |
| TAP | Molson Coors | |
| THS | Treehouse Foods | |
| TROX | Tronox Ltd | |
| TUMI | Tumi Holdings Inc | |
| VC | Visteon Corp | |
| WEN | Wendys Co/the | |
| WIFI | Boingo Wireless | |
| WIN | Windstream Communications | |
| ZNGA | Zynga Inc. | |
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Friday, Nov. 7
| Ticker | Company |
| CPK | Chesapeake Utilities |
| CRME | Cardiome Pharma |
| CTB | Cooper Tire |
| DAR | Darling International |
| GST | Gastar Exploration Ltd |
| HGR | Hanger, Inc. |
| HUM | Humana Inc. |
| ISIS | Isis Pharmaceuticals |
| JJSF | J&J Snack Foods |
| KBALB | Kimball Intl B |
| KMPR | Kemper Corp |
| KOG | Kodiak Oil & Gas |
| LGF | Lions Gate Entertainment |
| LMOS | Lumos Networks |
| LNT | Alliant Energy |
| MAIN | Main Street Cap |
| NFG | National Fuel Gas |
| NOG | Northern Oil & Gas |
| NU | Northeast Util |
| NXST | Nexstar Broadcasting |
| OSIR | Osiris Therapteutics |
| PGEM | Ply Gem Holding |
| PSEC | Prospect Capital |
| RIG | Transocean Ltd |
| SSP | E.W. Scripps Co. |
| STAY | Extended Stay |
