The recent optimism about economic recovery waned slightly this week after jobless claims increased more-than-expected to about 778,000 amid concerns over a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
With the healthcare system operating beyond capacity and the winter season around the corner, economic activity is expected to remain weak in the near future.
The gloomy COVID situation and encouraging news on the vaccine front elicited mixed response from stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed the $30,000-mark for the first time mid-week, before paring a part of the gains in the following sessions.
The S&P 500 index recovered from the recent weakness and maintained the momentum since then as the Trump administration began the transition process and the new president started giving shape to the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, European pharma firm AstraZeneca’s much-hailed vaccine trial suffered a setback after regulators in the U.S called for a review of the manufacturing process and questioned the drug’s efficacy rate.
With the earnings season reaching its fag end, there were only a few releases this week. Medtronic (MDT) reported mixed second-quarter results even as spending cuts continue to weigh on the demand for medical devices. In the technology space, HP Inc. and Analog Devices reported better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday.
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. will be announcing its third-quarter results on Monday. The other important companies reporting next week include Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. on December 1 and Dollar General Corp. on Thursday. Big Lots Inc. will be releasing its latest quarterly numbers on Friday.
Key Earnings to Watch
Monday: Adient, Autohome, and Zoom Video Communications
Tuesday: BMO Financial Group, Bank of Nova Scotia, Box Inc., Salesforce.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, NetApp Inc., and Trip.com Group Limited
Wednesday: CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., Descartes Systems Group, Elastic N.V., Five Below Inc., Royal Bank of Canada, Semtech Corp, Synopsys Inc., and Splunk Inc.
Thursday: Cloudera, Inc., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Cooper Companies Inc., Dollar General Corporation, DocuSign, Inc., Kroger Co., Signet Jewelers Ltd., Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., Toronto Dominion Bank, Ulta Beauty Inc., and Zscaler Inc.
Friday: Big Lots Inc. and Genesco Inc.
Key Corporate Conferences to Watch
Key US Economic Events
Looking Back
The following are notable companies which have reported their earnings last week. In case if you have missed to catch up on their performance, click the respective links to skim through the transcripts to glean more insights.
Agilent Technologies (A)
Autodesk (ADSK)
HP Inc. (HPQ)
Best Buy (BBY)
Dell Technologies (DELL)
If you want to listen to how management responds to analyst questions and the tone they use, you can head over to our YouTube channel to listen to conference calls on the go.
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