Catalyst Watch: Eyes on tech with Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta reporting

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 – October 28

• Volatility watch – Options trading volume is elevated on Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and Marinus Pharmaceuticals (MRNS). The most overbought stocks per their 14-day relative strength index include United Airlines (UAL), Phunware (PHUN), and Theralase Technologies (OTCQX:TLTFF). The most oversold stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Silvaco Group (SVCO), MGP Ingredients (MGPI), and Rusoro Mining (OTCPK:RMLFF). Short interest is elevated on Wheeler Real Estate Investment (WHLR) and Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) as earnings approach.
• All week – Federal Reserve Board members will be in a blackout period ahead of the FOMC meeting set for November 6-7.
• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Waste Management (WM), Ford Motor (F), On Semiconductor (ON), and F5 (FFIV).
• History watch – October 28 is the day with the best S&P 500 Index return over the last 74 years, per data from FactSet.
• All day – Inuvo (INUV), LifeVantage (LFVN), and OS Therapies (OSTX) are some of the companies due to present at the LD Micro Main Event.
• All day – The two-day Gamesbeat Next Conference will begin in San Francisco. The event is known for bringing together the brightest minds within the gaming industry to share their updates on the latest developments and their thoughts on the future of gaming.
• All day – TechCrunch Disrupt will take place in San Francisco. Notable speakers at the start-up event include General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Barra, Salesforce (CRM) Slack CEO Denise Dresser, Rocket Lab USA (RKLB) CEO Peter Beck, and Khosla Ventures Founder Vinod Khosla.
• All day – The IPO lockup period expires for certain blocks of shares of Viking Holdings (VIK) and Pineapple Financial (PAPL).

Tuesday – October 29

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Alphabet (GOOG), Visa (V), AMD (AMD), McDonald’s (MCD), Pfizer (PFE), HSBC Holdings (HSBC), American Tower (AMT), and Chipotle (CMG). Options trading implies a sizable swing in share price for Container Store (TCS), Snap (SNAP), and Reddit (RDDT) following their reports.
• 8:30 a.m. McDonald’s (MCD) will hold its earnings conference call. Management’s update on the impact of the E. coli outbreak will be closely watched. Lamb Weston (LW), which is a major supplier to the company, has seen a strong trading correlation with restaurant stock after recent earnings reports.
• 10:00 a.m. The Consumer Confidence report will be released by the Conference Board.

Wednesday – October 30

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META), Eli Lilly (LLY), Caterpillar (CAT), Starbucks (SBUX), and Doordash (DASH). Options trading implies a sizable swing in share price for Aurora Innovation (AUR), Fiverr International (FVRR), and Lemonade (LMND) after their reports are released.
• All day – The Binance Blockchain Week conference will begin in Dubai.
• All day – Notable investor events include V.F. Corporation’s (VFC) Investor Day event, Biomea Fusion’s (BMEA) business update call, and Boston Scientific’s (BSX) business update call.
• All day – The Bank of Japan will hold its two-day monetary policy meeting. Nomura said that while it expects the BOJ to hike rates in December, the firm thinks it would be premature for it to start hinting at a rate hike at this meeting.
• 8:30 a.m. The Commerce Department will release the GDP report.
• 1:00 p.m. The National Retail Federation will hold a webinar on the holiday sales outlook.

Thursday – October 31

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Mastercard (MA), Intel (INTC), Merck (MRK), Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), Altria (MO), and Uber Technologies (UBER). Options trading implies a sizable swing in share price for Peloton Interactive (PTON) and Sabre (SABR) after their reports are released.
• 8:30 a.m. The core PCE price index report for September will be released. The Fed’s favored inflation gauge was up 2.7% year-over-year in August and was 2.6% higher in both July and June.
• 5:00 p.m. Apple (AAPL) will hold its earnings conference call. Qorvo (QRVO) and InterDigital (IDCC) are two major AAPL suppliers that have moved in tandem with the stock following earnings over the last year.

Friday – November 1

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Charter (CHTR), and Wayfair (W).
• Data watch – Chinese electric vehicle makers NIO (NIO), Li Auto (LI), and XPeng (XPEV) will update on monthly deliveries. Investors will also monitor the monthly Macau gross gaming revenue report, the monthly update on Class 8 truck orders, firearm background check data from the FBI, and discount broker DARTs reports.
• All day – Kellanova (K) shareholders will vote on the acquisition offer from Mars.
• All day – The three-day GENAI SUMMIT Silicon Valley 2024 will begin. Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) are two of the notable companies that will participate.
• All day – Construction services provider Everus (ECG) will begin trading after being spun off from MDU Resources (MDU). For 2024, Everus expects revenue to be in the range of $2.65 billion to $2.85 billion and EBITDA to be in the range of $220 million to $240 million.
• All day – Bloomberg will publish its OPEC production survey for October.
• 8:30 a.m. The October Jobs Report will be released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists forecast 120K jobs were added during the month, and for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.1%.

Seeking Alpha Editor Josh Fineman contributed to this story.