Salesforce, Best Buy, Dollar General, HP, and Other Stocks for Investors to Watch This Week

The Federal Reserve’s annual Economic Policy Symposium kicks off on Thursday. Normally held in Jackson Hole, Wyo., the gathering is virtual this year. It’s theme is “Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy.” The Symposium runs through Saturday.

Economic data out this week include  IHS Markit’s Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for August on Monday. Both measures of economic activity are forecast to hold steady from July’s levels. On Wednesday, the Census Bureau releases the July durable goods report, which is seen as a decent proxy for business investment. It’s expected to have risen 0.8% last month.

Finally, the Bureau of Economic Analysis releases the Personal Income and Outlays report for July on Friday. Consumer income and spending are both forecast to be up 0.5% from the prior month. That would be faster income growth and slower spending growth compared with June. The report also includes the PCE Price Index, which Fed officials prefer to measure inflation. That’s expected to have jumped 4.2% year over year.

Monday 8/23

JD.com, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, and Palo Alto Networks report quarterly results.

The National Association of Realtors reports existing-home sales for July. Consensus estimate is for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.83 million homes sold, about even with the June figure. Existing-home sales have slowed from the beginning of the year as prices continue to soar. In June, the median home price was a record $363,300, up 23.4% year over year.

IHS Markit releases both its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index and Services PMI for August. Economists forecast a 63.1 reading for the Manufacturing PMI and a 59.8 reading for the Services PMI. Both figures would be roughly even with the July data.

Tuesday 8/24

Advance Auto Parts, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Best Buy, Intuit, Medtronic, and Toll Brothers announce earnings.

The Census Bureau reports new single-family home sales for July. Expectations are for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 700,000 new homes sold, a 3.6% month-over-month rise from June. Much like existing-home sales, new-home sales are off sharply from earlier this year.

Wednesday 8/25

Autodesk, NetApp, Royal Bank of Canada, Salesforce.com, Snowflake, Splunk, and Ulta Beauty release quarterly results.

The Census Bureau releases the durable goods report for July. The consensus call is for a 0.8% monthly gain in new orders for manufactured durable goods, to $260 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders are expected to rise 0.9%, after increasing 0.5% in June.

Thursday 8/26

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City hosts its annual Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. This year’s theme is “Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy.” The confab runs through Aug. 28.

Burlington Stores, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Dell Technologies, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Gap, J.M. Smucker, HP Inc., Marvell Technology, Peloton Interactive, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and VMware hold conference calls to discuss earnings.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports its second estimate for second-quarter gross domestic product. Economists forecast a 6.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate of growth, unchanged from the BEA’s advance estimate from late July.

Friday 8/27

The BEA releases the Personal Income and Outlays report for July. Consensus estimates are for both personal income and spending to rise 0.5% month over month. This compares with increases of 0.1% and 1%, respectively, in June. The PCE Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge, is seen jumping 4.2% year over year, after a 4.0% rise in June.

Write to Nicholas Jasinski at [email protected]