By Liz Moyer
Investing.com — Stocks were falling on Monday as investors prepared for the Federal Reserve’s next decision on interest rates on Wednesday plus a slew of earnings reports from tech giants.
The Fed is expected to raise interest rates another one-quarter of a percentage point, but Chair Jerome Powell will answer reporters’ questions in the afternoon after the decision is released, and that could be an opportunity to get more nuance on the Fed’s thinking and where rates are headed.
The Fed has been trying to guide the economy to a soft landing — one where inflation comes down without triggering a recession and a lot of job losses. Although tech companies have announced thousands of job cuts in recent weeks, the labor market continues to be strong. Investors will get their next dose of data on how things are trending this Friday, when the government releases the jobs report for January, including the unemployment rate.
Earnings from tech firms Meta Platforms, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) along with a host of other large US companies will also set the tone for markets when they come out later this week.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Exxon Mobil earnings
Oil major Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) is expected to report earnings of $3.29 a share on revenue of $97.17 billion. Its rival Chevron (NYSE: CVX) announced a massive $75B stock buyback last week.
2. Pfizer earnings
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is expected to report earnings per share of $1.07 on revenue of $24.6B. Analysts will be listening for what it says about COVID-19 vaccine and treatment revenue and what its outlook for 2023 is.
3. McDonald’s earnings
Fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is expected to report earnings per share of $2.45 on revenue of $5.7B.