Image Source: Unsplash
 

The AI trade is back, baby! It was a strong bounce-back day for the tech space, with all “Mag 7” stocks up for the session, and even Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) growing +7%. Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) was +6% on news — to a new all-time high — of its advancement in its Gemini 3 AI system being more fully integrated with custom chips and its cloud service platforms. 

Bitcoin (BTC) buoyed +1.7% today to around $89K, mothballing plans for a “crypto winter,” at least for now. Robinhood (HOOD - Free Report) gained +7% and Strategy (MSTR - Free Report) rose +5% in today’s trading, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT - Free Report) gained +5.5% for the session. Perhaps we can trace much of this new bullish appetite to bargain shopping (it is Black Friday Week, after all), but the main thing is that the crypto slide has corrected somewhat today.

Earnings After the Close: From A to ZM
 

We’re through the heaviest activity of calendar Q3 earnings season, and a bevy of retailers have yet to report earnings in this holiday-shortened week. After Monday’s close, we do have a couple stocks worth noting:

Agilent (A - Free Report) reported fiscal Q4 results this afternoon, meeting Zacks consensus expectations on its bottom line of $1.59 per share, while revenues of $1.86 billion outpaced the $1.83 billion analysts were anticipating. This was the closest the software measurement tools and services company has come to missing on earnings since 2019. Q1 guidance was slightly below estimates, and shares are drawing back slightly from the +14% growth in the stock year to date.

Zoom Communications (ZM - Free Report) outperformed expectations on both top and bottom lines in its Q3 report this afternoon. Earnings of $1.52 per share surpassed the $1.43 in the Zacks consensus, while revenues of $1.23 billion in the quarter slipped past the $1.21 billion projected. Guidance for the current quarter was increased on the top end, and shares are up +3.5% in late trading.

What to Expect from the Stock Market This Week
 

We’re concentrating our news items this week, packing most of the economic and earnings data into the next two trading days. There will be nothing on the docket for Thursday, when markets will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, and little in store on “Black Friday,” which will see the closing bell strike at 1pm ET.

Tomorrow morning will be big for earnings releases in specialty retail, which will include Best Buy (BBY - Free Report), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF - Free Report), Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS - Free Report) and even Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA - Free Report). These stocks all currently carry Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) ratings into their announcements, except for BABA, which remains a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

The biggest market catalyst ahead of the open tomorrow, however, may be in the reportage on both inflation and employment. Delayed Retail Sales and PPI numbers come out for September, while Case-Shiller Home Prices and Pending Home Sales are also expected. For employment, ADP’s (ADP - Free Report) new 4-week employment change data hits the tape before the bell; last time we saw a loss of -2.5K private-sector jobs, and -11K the week before that. 

In actuality, continued weak labor market numbers could be the biggest catalyst of all: combines with Wednesday’s Weekly Jobless Claims, should we see an unraveling extend into this data, this could help market participants price back in 25 basis-points (bps) interest rate cuts from the Fed for two weeks from Wednesday, and beyond into 2026.

More By This Author: