Catalyst Watch: Eyes on Jackson Hole, Target earnings, and Canadian rails disruption

Welcome to Seeking Alpha’s Catalyst Watch – a breakdown of some of next week’s actionable events that stand out. Check out Seeking Alpha’s earnings calendar for a full list of companies due to report.

Monday – August 19

• Volatility watch – Options trading volume is elevated on Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI) and Hawaiian Holdings (HA). The most overbought stocks per their 14-day relative strength index include Lockheed (LMT), G1 Therapeutics (GTHX), and OneStream (OS). The most oversold stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Clearwater Paper (CLW), BlackRock TCP Capital (TCPC), and Seritage Growth Properties (SRG). Short interest has moved higher on Groupon (GRPN) and Dave (DAVE).
• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Estee Lauder (EL), and Fabrinet (FN).
• 9:40 a.m. – Eni S.p.A. (E) will have a presentation at the EnerCom Denver Conference.
• All day – The two-day Rosenblatt Technology Summit on the Age of AI will begin. Speakers include representatives from Arm Holdings (ARM), Dolby Laboratories (DLB), Harmonic (HLIT), Qualcomm (QCOM), Sonos (SONO), and TeraWulf (WULF).
• 4:00 p.m. The U.S. crop condition report will be released. Traders have the report circled as potentially more significant than normal for corn (C_1:COM), soybean (S_1:COM), and wheat (W_1:COM) futures.

Tuesday – August 20

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Lowe’s Companies (LOW), Medtronic (MDT), Toll Brothers (TOL), Amer Sports (AS), XPeng (XPEV), and Coty (COTY). Options trading implies a double-digit share price swing for Workhorse Group (WKHS) after the release of its delayed earnings report.
• All day – WTI crude September futures will expire. Crude oil futures have seen extra volatility over the last year on contract expiration dates.
• All day – Ubisoft (OTCPK:UBSFY), Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF), Xbox (MSFT), Take-Two Interactive (TTWO), Krafton, and SK Gaming will be some of the exhibitors at Gamescom 2024 in Cologne, Germany.
• All day – The Department of Justice’s timing agreement expires on the review of the planned merger between Hawaiian Holdings (HA) and Alaska Air Group (ALK).
• 11:00 a.m. Texas Instruments (TXN) will webcast an off-cycle capital management call. During the webcast, top executives will provide more granularity on TI’s capacity investments. The discussion will also include a framework of revenue and free cash flow per share scenarios.
• 1:35 p.m. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic will participate in a fireside chat before a hybrid forum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
• 1:55 p.m. Serve Robotics (SERV) will present at the EnerCom Denver Conference. Backed by Uber (UBER) and Nvidia (NVDA), the company develops advanced, AI-powered, low-emissions sidewalk delivery robots that endeavor to make delivery sustainable and economical.
• 2:45 p.m. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr will participate in a cybersecurity discussion before the Joint Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee-Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council Meeting.

Wednesday – August 21

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include TJX Companies (TJX), Analog Devices (ADI), Target (TGT), Snowflake (SNOW), Agilent (A), and Macy’s (M). Options trading implies a double-digit share price swing for Wolfspeed (WOLF) and Urban Outfitters (URBN) after their reports are released.
• All day – Shareholders with Allete (ALE) will vote on the offer from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners to acquire the energy company for $67 per share. Allete traded at $63.82 at the time of publication.
• All day – O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) will hold an Analyst Day event that will feature a presentation by the company’s management team, a Q&A session, a distribution center tour, and store tours.
• All day – It is the deadline for competing bids for Paramount Global (PARA).
• All day – The two-day Needham Virtual Semiconductor & SemiCap 1×1 Conference will begin. Axcelis (ACLS), Veeco Instruments (VECO), and MaxLinear (MXL) are scheduled to participate. The event has led to some share price rallies after the presentations led to analyst rating and price target changes.
• 8:00 a.m. Target (TGT) will hold its earnings conference call. Options trading implies a share price move of 6% after the report is released. Target shed 8% on the day of its Q1 earnings release. Honest Company (HNST) and Mattel (MAT) are two major suppliers to Target that have shown strong share price correlation following the retailer’s report.
• 9:00 a.m. The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages report will be released. The QCEW is a comprehensive employment survey that is used to update nonfarm payrolls, and is closely watched by economists.
• 2:00 p.m. The minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting will be released.

Thursday – August 22

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Intuit (INTU), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), Workday (WDAY), Ross Stores (ROST), Peloton Interactive (PTON), and Baidu (BIDU). Options trading implies a large share price swing for CAVA Group (CAVA) and Viking Holdings (VIK) after their reports are released.
• All day – It is the FDA action date for the agency’s priority review of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) Linvoseltamab to treat adult patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.
• All day – Canadian National Railway Company (CNI) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CP) are scheduled to lock out engineers and conductors as the long labor dispute reaches its climax. A strike or lockout could cause significant economic damage in Canada, which relies heavily on its railway network for its exports of grain, potash, and coal. An extended rail strike in Canada could also impact the U.S. economy.

Friday – August 23

• All day – The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City will hold its annual Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole. The key event will be a speech by Federal Reserve Bank President Jerome Powell.
• All day – Liberty Media (LSXMA) (LSXMB) (LSXMK) will hold a virtual special meeting of shareholders to vote on a split-off of Liberty SiriusXM Group into a separate company, after which the new company would be combined with Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI).
• 10:00 a.m. The July New Home Sales report will be released.

Seeking Alpha editors Josh Fineman and Jason Aycock contributed to this story.