Key Events
An outline of some of the most important events happening next week that you can act on. See the regular Stocks to Watch piece on Saturday morning for a full list of what’s going on this week.
Monday – March 18
China Industrial Production: In December 2023, China’s industrial production rose 6.8% year-over-year, up from 6.6 percent in November and beyond market expectations of 6.6 percent. The steepest industrial production growth since February 2022. Mining and manufacturing led. January-February data is expected.
Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include StoneCo (STNE), Comtech (CMTL) and Science Applications (SAIC).
All week – CERAWeek in Houston, Texas will bring together global leaders to advance new ideas, insight and solutions to the biggest challenges facing the future of energy, the environment, and climate. The event is one of the premier gatherings of the year for the global energy and utilities industries, and also features automotive, manufacturing, policy, and financial executives along with a growing presence from tech. Speakers during the week include Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO Darren Woods, Chevron (CVX) CEO Mike Wirth, Shell (SHEL) CEO Wael Sawan, TotalEnergies (TTE) CEO Patrick Pouyanne, and Saudi Aramco (ARMCO) CEO Amin Nasser.
All week – S&P Global 39th Annual World Petrochemical Conference in Houston.
All day – The Game Developers Conference will take place. The event has generated buzz in the past with announcements on new tech, launch dates, and industry trends.
8:30 a.m. – NY Fed Services Business Activity
10:00 a.m. – NAHB Housing Market Index
10:30 a.m. – Shareholder vote for PGT Innovations (PGTI) sale to Miter.
4:00 p.m. – Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang to present keynote at GTC 2024.
Tuesday – March 19
BoJ policy: The Bank of Japan will announce policy on Tuesday. It maintained its key short-term interest rate at -0.1% and 10-year bond rates at about 0% in January, as expected.
Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Tencent Music (TME), Caleres (CAL), Citi Trends (CTRN) and Core & Main (CNM).
All day – Nvidia (NVDA) will hold its annual GTC conference at the San Jose Convention Center over a four-day period. CEO Jensen Huang will unveil the company’s latest breakthroughs in accelerated computing, generative AI, and robotics.
All day – Box Inc. (BOX) analyst day.
All day – Piper Sandler 24th Annual Energy Conference.
All day – 36th Annual ROTH Conference.
8:30 a.m. – Feb. Housing Starts.
Wednesday – March 20
The US Fed’s interest rate decision is watched. US benchmark interest rates are 5.5 percent. The Fed funds rate is reached its pinnacle for this tightening cycle, and there is speculation that it will ease policy constraint this year. Its belief that inflation is sustainable at 2% is tied to that. Will Fed Chair Powell be cautious? Watch and wait.
In February 2024, the Eurozone’s final consumer confidence indicator rose 0.6 points to -15.5, matching early projections. The March number is coming.
Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Micron Technology (MU), Signet Jewelers (SIG), General Mills (GIS), and Five Below (FIVE). Options trading implies a large share price move for Chewy (CHWY) after the company reports.
All day – Notable investor events include Western Midstream Partners’ (WES) Virtual Energy & Utilities Day, Brown-Forman’s (BF.A) (BF.B) Investor Day, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Investor Day, Altair Engineering’s (ALTR) Investor Day and Synopsys (SNPS) Investor Day.
All day – Astera Labs (ALAB) is expected to trade after IPO.
7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Applications.
12:00 p.m. – Broadcom (AVGO) will host an Investor meeting on enabling AI in infrastructure.
2:00 p.m. – The Federal Reserve will release its interest rate policy statement.
2:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference.
All day – Reddit (RDDT) shares are expected to price for IPO.
Thursday – March 21
BoE Interest Rate Decision: The Bank of England’s policy rate monopoly will be revealed in its policy unveiling on Thursday. The central bank maintained its Bank Rate at 5.25%, a 16-year high, for the fourth time at its first meeting of 2024. The European Central Bank also maintained historically high interest rates, handling recession fears and inflationary pressures.
US Initial Jobless Claims: In the week ending March 2, 217K persons claimed unemployment benefits, unchanged from the previous week and above market forecasts of 215K. The prior week’s level was raised 2K to 217K. Numbers until March 16 are being calculated.
Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include Nike (NKE), FedEx (FDX), Accenture (ACN), Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU), and Darden Restaurants (DRI).
All day – Reddit (RDDT) is expected to start trading after IPO.
All day – CSP Inc. (CSPI) will start trading on a split-adjusted basis following the company’s two-for-one stock split.
All day – Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) will be hosting its regularly scheduled quarterly management meeting.
8:30 a.m. – Philly Fed Business outlook and Initial/Continuing claim.
9:45 a.m. – PMI- Mfg, PMI-Srvcs and PMI-Composite.
10:00 a.m. – Feb. Existing Home Sales.
5:00 p.m. – Nike (NKE) will hold its earnings conference call.
Friday – March 22
All day – Merck (MRK) will be on watch with the FDA action date for sotatercept just one business day away. Sotatercept is the company’s novel investigational activin signaling inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. If approved, sotatercept would be the first in its class, bringing a novel approach to address a rare and progressive disease of the pulmonary arteries.
All day – Window show period for Sterling Check’s (STER) planned sale to First Advantage (FA).
10:00 a.m. – Digital World (NASDAQ:DWAC) shareholders will vote on plan to combine with Trump Media & Technology, the parent company of former president Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform.
12:00 p.m. – Shareholders with Axonics (AXNX) will vote on the planned merger with Boston Scientific (BSX).
4:00 p.m. – Fed’s Raphael Bostic moderated conversation at the 2024 Household Finance Conference in Georgia.
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