Next Week’s Macro Outlook: Earnings season will pick up pace next week, with no major rate-decision or central-bank meeting data releases expected to affect the upcoming monetary policy meeting.

PANews July 19 — During a week of diverging price action, gold, the US dollar, crude oil, and US stocks became the market’s focus. Looking ahead to next week, there are no relevant key US data releases that could influence the decision-making around the upcoming policy meeting. The earnings season will accelerate in the following week, and dozens of companies will release their Q2 results. Below are the key points the market will focus on in the new week:

On Monday at 22:00, the US June Conference Board Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) monthly rate;

On Tuesday at 20:15, changes in US ADP employment for the week of July 4;

On Wednesday after the US stock market close, Alphabet, Tesla, AT&T, IBM, and Texas Instruments will release earnings;

On Thursday after the US stock market close, Intel will release earnings;

On Thursday at 20:15, the European Central Bank will announce its interest rate decision;

On Thursday at 20:45, ECB President Lagarde will hold a monetary policy press conference.

Analysis suggests that some investors in the artificial intelligence sector have already started preparing for a slowdown in the spending-spree wave of nearly one trillion dollars. Some active fund managers have already reduced their investment scale. If there are clear signs that prospects are weakening and/or that the pace of AI investment is slowing, the ensuing sustained anxiety in the market will support the current bearish momentum.