The Week Ahead on Wall Street

Economic Data

Today there is no economic data scheduled to be released.

Tomorrow, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) will release the Small Business Optimism Index for April. This data point tracks the health of US small businesses, which account for 50% of the country’s workforce. In March the index rose 2.4 points to 98.2. March’s reading marks the first return to the average historical reading since last November.

On Wednesday, the Consumer Price Index for April is released. Consumer prices rose 2.6% year-over-year in March, boosted by economic recovery and comparisons with last year when the country was in the throes of the pandemic. March’s reading was the highest since August of 2018. Also Wednesday, Core CPI numbers come out for April.

On Thursday, initial jobless claims and continuing jobless claims for last week will be released. With the economy entering a post-pandemic recovery, unemployment numbers have steadily decreased. For the week ended May 1, unemployment claims fell to 498,000. Also Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the Producer Price Index for April.

On Friday, a number of economic data points will be released including retail sales for April. Retail sales in March, which are tracked monthly by the US Census Bureau, were up 9.8% from February and 27.7% higher year-over-year. Stimulus checks issued in March caused spending to surge, so economists will be looking to see if the momentum continued in April. The import price index, consumer sentiment, and business inventories data is also released Friday.

Earnings Reports

Today, Tyson Foods (TSN) reports quarterly earnings. The food company is taking on Beyond Meat (BYND) in the plant-based meat market, launching its own line of meatless hamburgers and sausages. Tyson and other meat-alternative producers are rolling out new food products just in time for summer barbecues. The company, which is the largest US producer of traditional meat, launched its first plant-based products in 2019.

On Tuesday, be on the lookout for Roblox’s (RBLX) quarterly earnings. The video game maker, which went public in March, has seen its monthly active users surge during the pandemic and users do not seem to be abating. Based on preliminary numbers, Roblox had 202 million estimated monthly active users at the end of April. This is an all-time high for the company and an increase of 10 million users from March. The company expected a slowdown as pandemic restrictions started lifting, so the strong showing is a bit of a surprise for Roblox. Investors will be looking to hear if growth continued in May.

On Wednesday, AppLovin (APP) reports quarterly earnings. It is the first time the mobile app maker will report financial results as a public company. The KKR-backed company went public in March and now sports a market capitalization of $20.3 billion. As of March, AppLovin had more than 410 million daily active users playing one of its more than 200 free mobile games. The company is riding demand for video games from consumers stuck at home during the pandemic. It will be interesting to hear how AppLovin plans to keep up the momentum.

On Thursday, be on the lookout for Disney’s (DIS) quarterly earnings. The media giant’s stock has climbed more than 86% since last May as the company starts to reopen theme parks and demand for Disney+ continues to grow. Investors will be paying close attention to what Disney has to say about its park reopenings, given that this arm of its business represents about 40% of the company’s revenue. The company’s commentary on the state of ESPN and its other television networks will also be closely followed.

Also on Thursday, DoorDash (DASH) reports quarterly earnings. Last week the food delivery company instituted a new pricing model in response to complaints that it charges too much. Restaurants can now choose between paying 15%, 25%, and 30% commissions. The higher the rate the restaurant pays the more marketing and services it gets. DoorDash also lowered the commission on pickup food from 15% to 6%. Look for an update on how the new pricing is going when DoorDash reports earnings.

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