It's a make-or-break week for the stock market

• Traders are holding their activity up of cardinal economical information and earnings.
• Third-quarter GDP and nan October jobs study will beryllium important inputs for nan Fed's easing cycle.
• Meanwhile, immoderate of nan biggest tech companies successful nan world are group to study earnings.

Traders are bracing themselves up of a large week for nan banal market.

Investors will beryllium watching cardinal information releases, including third-quarter GDP, an ostentation update from nan individual depletion expenditures index, and nan October jobs study for clues astir nan authorities of nan system heading into year-end.

Importantly, nan information points will beryllium cardinal inputs for nan Federal Reserve's liking complaint cuts. If nan system stays hot, nan Fed could slow aliases moreover region its easing rhythm and spark a recalibration successful markets that causes caller volatility for stocks.

Meanwhile, 5 mega-cap tech firms worthy a mixed $12 trillion — Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet — will study third-quarter net this week.

Here are nan cardinal inputs for markets to support an oculus connected this week.

Mega-cap tech earnings

Earnings play is peaking this week, pinch much than 90 S&P 500 companies group to study including mega-cap giants Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet.

Together, those 5 companies are worthy astir $12 trillion.

Investors will watch nan net reports closely, looking for signs of AI maturation — and pinch it, signals that nan tech bull tally will proceed into 2025.

Alphabet reports connected Tuesday, followed by Microsoft and Meta connected Wednesday.

For Meta, analysts expect beardown maturation amid a increasing and unchangeable halfway business. In a statement past week, analysts astatine Bernstein said Meta is nan caller "set-it-and-forget-it" bluish spot stock. The squad raised their value target from $600 to $675 a share, representing imaginable upside of 16% from nan value of nan banal astatine midday connected Monday.

Apple has an particularly big week ahead. The iPhone shaper reports connected Thursday, and is besides expected to unveil package and hardware updates this week, including entree to highly-anticipated Apple Intelligence AI features pinch nan iOS 18.1 update.

The net study follows a statement last Wednesday from proviso concatenation expert Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities that warned of anemic request for it's new iPhone 16 models. The statement said there's nary motion yet that Apple's coming AI capabilities person boosted request for its devices.

Amazon will besides study connected Thursday. Deutsche Bank analysts expect beardown results driven by operating income astatine nan precocious extremity of guidance and higher operating income for adjacent year.

The analysts spot respective sources of upside, including faster maturation of full advertisement gross fixed spot successful its Prime Video segment, operating expenses for Amazon Web Services that travel successful beneath expectations, and different operating expenses increasing much slow owed to nan company's attraction connected ratio and scaling robotics benefits.

In summation to nan results themselves, investors will besides beryllium watching for clues astir nan spot of nan AI trade.

All of nan tech giants reporting this week, pinch nan objection of Apple, are among Nvidia's biggest customers. With Nvidia's net not for different month, nan third-quarter results and executive commentary will beryllium important gauges of request from nan alleged "hyperscalers" driving nan bulk of GPU sales.

Wedbush Securities analysts and tech bull Dan Ives described this week arsenic nan "world bid for large tech." He predicts net results will travel successful strong, and nonstop tech stocks higher into nan extremity of nan year.

"Investors request to spot nan monetization of AI spreading to nan remainder of nan tech scenery and nan adjacent fewer weeks will beryllium nan linchpin to confirmation that nan AI 'use lawsuit phase' person now begun wrong nan endeavor world," Ives wrote successful a statement connected Sunday.

Third-quarter GDP and nan Fed's favourite ostentation gauge

The flurry of cardinal information releases starts pinch third-quarter GDP connected Wednesday.

Last week, stocks took a deed arsenic the enslaved marketplace sold off based connected expectations for liking rates to stay higher for longer owed to a beardown economy, cautious comments from Fed officials, and rising likelihood of different Donald Trump presidency, which is wide seen arsenic an inflationary arena fixed his promises of precocious tariffs.

Depending connected nan information this week, there's renewed imaginable for nan enslaved marketplace to reprice and nonstop shocks done nan banal marketplace arsenic investors set complaint expectations.

The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow Tracker expects 3.3% economical maturation for nan quarter, according to nan tracker's astir caller estimate connected Friday. That's a precocious barroom and would people important maturation from past quarter's 3.0% growth.

A basking system is simply a hurdle to fierce complaint cuts from nan Fed, and could origin markets to reprice expectations for liking rates done nan remainder of this twelvemonth and into 2025.

PCE is owed Thursday and will beryllium different input for nan Fed arsenic it nears its extremity of 2% inflation. The Fed's preferred ostentation gauge is expected to show prices roseate 2.1% year-over-year successful September, continuing its diminution aft coming successful astatine 2.2% nan anterior month.

The October jobs report

After a blockbuster September jobs report, nan stakes are precocious for October's jobs information connected Friday.

The information has go a double-edged beard for nan market. If occupation maturation remains high, that could trim nan request for much complaint cuts. If nan information is weaker than expected, that could punctual much accelerated easing but besides hint astatine a weakening economy.

Economists expect nan information to show 110,000 jobs were added past month, acold less than nan 245,000 added successful September.

JPMorgan analysts forecast a somewhat much mild summation of 100,000 arsenic caller storms and strikes measurement connected occupation growth. That makes nan study difficult to interpret, nan analysts said.

"A diminution successful nan unemployment complaint would apt summation chatter astir a Fed 'skip' successful November, but barring an unexpectedly and remarkably beardown group of information adjacent week, we deliberation it would return much months of bully information earlier that anticipation gets onto nan Fed's radar," nan analysts said successful a note.

According to nan CME FedWatch tool, markets expect nan Fed to present 25 basis-point cuts astatine nan November and December meetings.