Catalyst Watch: FOMC, FedEx earnings, Electronic Arts event, and triple witching day

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 – September 16

• Volatility watch – Options trading volume is elevated on AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), as well as Trump Media & Technology (DJT) ahead of the expiration of the post-SPAC lock-up period. Late on Friday, Donald Trump said he would not sell his block of shares. The most overbought stocks per their 14-day relative strength index include Instil Bio (TIL), Ventas (VTR), and Elite Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:ELTP). The most oversold stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Icahn Enterprises (IEP), Vital Energy Inc (VTLE), and Cybin (CYBN). Short interest is elevated on BioCardia (BCDA) and Children’s Place (PLCE).
• All week – Notable investor events include Electronic Arts’ (EA) Investor Day, Stellantis’ (STLA) press conference at the IAA Transportation conference, BYD Companies (OTCPK:BYDDF) press conference at the IAA Transportation Conference, and the J.P. Morgan U.S. All Stars Conference with presentations from a list of companies that includes Birkenstock (BIRK), Cisco (CSCO), and Honeywell (HON).
• All day – The Denver Gold Forum will take place over three days. Companies scheduled to present at one of the world’s most well-known mining equities investment forums include Solitario Resources (XPL), Equinox Gold (EQX), U.S. Gold (USAU), Hecla (HL), and Coeur Mining (CDE).
• 11:00 a.m. Microsoft (MSFT) will hold a special event during which CEO Satya Nadella and Corporate Vice President Jared Spataro will discuss the next phase of Copilot innovation.

Tuesday – September 17

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Ferguson Enterprises (FERG).
• All day – The IPO lockup periods expire for blocks of shares of Astera Labs (ALAB) and Reddit (RDDT).
• All day – The Deckers Outdoor (DECK) 6-for-1 stock split will be effective at the market open.
• All day – Salesforce (CRM) will hold its Dreamforce 2024 event. The high-profile event will include talks from Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff, AMD (AMD) CEO Dr. Lisa Su, FedEx (FDX) CEO Raj Subramaniam, and Camping World (CWH) CEO Marcus Lemonis. Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang will take part in a session on the future of AI.
• All day – Electronic Arts (EA) will hold its first Investor Day since 2016. Analysts think there is the potential that management will discuss the game pipeline and financial targets. Morgan Stanley has circled the event as a significant opportunity to reset investor expectations on EA’s priorities and growth drivers.
• All day – TD Cowen’s 2nd Annual Sip, Snack & Scrub Summit will include talks from Brown-Forman (BF.A), Shake Shack (SHAK), and Utz Brands (UTZ).
• All day – Workday (WDAY) will hold its Financial Analyst Day event.
• All day – Closing arguments will take place in the FTC trial to block the merger of Kroger (KR) and Albertsons Companies (ACI).
• 8:30 a.m. The August Retail Sales report will be released.

Wednesday – September 18

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include General Mills (GIS) and Steelcase (SCS).
• All day – Notable investor events include HubSpot’s (HUBS) Analyst Day and T-Mobile’s (TMUS) Capital Markets Day.
• All day – The KeyBanc Capital Markets Energy Transition Symposium will include participation from Ballard Power Systems (BLDP), FuelCell Energy (FCEL), Plug Power (PLUG), First Solar (FSLR), and SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG).
• 2:00 p.m. Crowdstrike (CRWD) will hold an investor briefing at its Fal.com security event.
• 2:00 p.m. The FOMC will make its interest rate policy announcement.
• 2:30 p.m. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference.

Thursday – September 19

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include FedEx (FDX), Lennar (LEN), Darden Restaurants (DRI), and Factset Research (FDS).
• All day – Notable investor events include Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s (AJG) quarterly investor meeting with management, Thermo Fisher Scientific’s (TMO) Investor Day, Union Pacific’s (UNP) Investor Day, Arcadium Lithium’s (ALTM) Investor Day, and QUALCOMM’s (QCOM) Investor Day.
• All day – It is the one-year anniversary of Instacart’s (CART) IPO. The IPO was priced at $30 per share. Instacart (CART) has traded as high as $42.95 and was sitting just under $37 at the time of publication.
• All day – Faraday Future (FFIE) will hold its second Brand Strategy and Global Automotive Industry Bridge Launch Event.
• 10:00 a.m. The August Home Sales report will be released.
• 5:30 p.m. FedEx (FDX) will hold its earnings call, with key being the expectations for the holiday season and implications of the end of the USPS contract. Options trading implies a 7% swing in share price after the report is released. FedEx soared more than 15% after its last earnings report. The stocks with the highest trading correlation with FedEx (FDX) on its earnings day are United Parcel Service (UPS), Expeditors International (EXPD), and Landstar System (LSTR).

Friday – September 20

• All day – It is the last trading day before the FDA action date on Zevra Therapeutics’ (ZVRA) treatment for Niemann-Pick disease type C.
• All day – WTI crude October futures will expire. Crude oil futures have seen extra volatility over the last year on contract expiration dates.
• All day – The stock market could see extra volatility with triple witching day featuring the simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options contracts.
• All day – The FTC review on the PetIQ (PETQ) acquisition by Bansk Group will expire.
• All day – ZEEKR (ZK) will officially launch the Zeekr 7X SUV. The Zeekr 7X SUV has a starting price of 239,000 yuan ($33,680) and is aimed at competing with the Tesla (TSLA) Model Y.

Seeking Alpha Editor Josh Fineman contributed to this story.