Here are the 3 big things we're watching in the stock market in the week ahead

CNBC Finance

7 min read

We're heading into a holiday-shortened trading week. Don't let that fool you, though. There's enough on the calendar to fill a full week. Earnings season is ramping up. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge is due out (albeit a little stale). And we're having our first Monthly Meeting of the year. 1. Earnings outside the portfolio: There will be a lot of reports to keep track of outside the Club. Industry bellwethers like 3M , Netflix , United Airlines , Johnson & Johnson , GE Aerospace , Intel , and SLB are all set to report next week, to name a few. While these names aren't in the Club, each can provide insight into various sectors of the economy. For example, 3M will inform us on industrial activity and manufacturing demand. GE Aerospace on Thursday can speak to the implications of President Donald Trump's calls for increased defense spending and how much commercial air travel is taking place â relevant for our positions in Boeing and Honeywell. That's also the case with United Airlines on Wednesday. Plus, United will offer a window into the health of the consumer and their feelings about the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, Intel on Thursday will provide insight into semiconductor demand early in the quarter, well before the data center juggernauts in our portfolio, Broadcom and Nvidia, report later in the earnings season. Perhaps Intel will also give an update on its custom CPU collaboration with Nvidia, which was announced to much fanfare in September . In the oil patch, SLB and rival Halliburton â arms dealers for the companies doing the drilling â will shine a light on energy demand and infrastructure dynamics in the wake of the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. What these companies say about the activity levels of their customers may help us understand where energy prices are headed in 2026. Chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s earnings report last week perfectly illustrated why investors need to follow stocks outside their portfolio. After TSMC said it was increasing its capital budget due to strong demand, the whole chip cohort caught a bid â from chip designers such as Nvidia to supply-chain players like Club name Qnity Electronics . Investors are always looking for "readthroughs" that sharpen their understanding of the markets their portfolio companies operate in. This week will provide plenty of them. 2. Earnings in our portfolio: Both Club stocks reporting this week will do so on Thursday. Procter & Gamble is up first before the opening bell, and we won't be surprised if the headline numbers disappoint. As Jim Cramer noted on Friday's Morning Meeting, we know October and November â two-thirds of P & G's quarter â were impacted by the government shutdown, which led to a delay in SNAP benefits, causing weakness early in the quarter. The issue is, it's not clear to us that Wall Street estimates have fully baked this in. The consensus revenue estimate of $22.31 billion is only 1.2% below where it was on Sept. 30, the day before the shutdown began. As a result, what P & G has to say about post-shutdown dynamics and the ongoing quarter â the third quarter of P & G's fiscal 2026 â will be the most important factor in determining where the stock goes from here. This is the first P & G quarter with new CEO Shailesh Jejurikar at the helm, and we're excited about what he can bring to the Tide, Crest, and Dawn parent. Later that day, Trump's pressure campaign on the credit card industry adds a major wrinkle to Capital One's earnings report after the close. As of now, it's too early to say whether Trump's demand fo r a one-year 10% interest rate cap will become a reality. But it figures to be a big topic of conversation on the conference call anyway. Many of the big bank CEOs who reported last week criticized it. Now, Capital One's Richard Fairbank, an influential player in the industry, will get his chance to weigh in on what it would mean for the industry. Some good news for Capital One shareholders, at least, is that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Friday on Fox Business that the administration is in touch with the big banks to create a new credit card product to appease Trump â an outcome that would be much narrower than Trump's initial threat, which sent Capital One shares down 6.4% Monday. As for Capital One's actual financials, the important metrics beyond headline revenue and earnings include delinquency and payment rates because they reflect the health of the consumer. More general commentary about spending habits and debt levels are key too. With private consumption accounting for roughly two-thirds of U.S. GDP, knowing where the consumer stands is absolutely crucial to how one thinks about the market more broadly. Finally, management's Discovery integration plans for 2026 will be of interest, as will its commentary on share repurchase activity. 3. Economic data: The big economic release of the week is also on Thursday. That's when we get the November personal spending and income report, which contains the core PCE price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. While the PCE can provide hints on the Fed's future interest rate moves, it's important to remember that this is a delayed report. For that reason, investors will be better served focusing more on what management teams say during earnings conference calls than basing investment decisions on a high-level report that is now nearly two months stale. Another release on our radar is the December pending home sales report on Wednesday. A better-than-expected report on the number of pending home sales should bode well for the economy. Housing is one of those sectors that punches above its weight, thanks to all the other purchases that come with the purchase of a new home, such as services, appliances, furniture, and so on. Home Depot is the stock in our portfolio most levered to the housing market and mortgage rates. As a reminder, markets were Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And on Thursday, we'll be hosting our first Monthly Meeting of the year, so be sure to send in all your questions for Jim and Jeff to address on the call. Week ahead Monday, Jan.19 U.S. stock market closed Tuesday, Jan. 20 Before the bell: D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI), 3M Company (MMM), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Fastenal Co. (FAST), Peoples Bancorp Inc (PEBO), KeyCorp (KEY) After the bell: Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR), United Airlines (UAL), Progress Software Corp. (PRGS) Wednesday, Jan. 21 December Pending Home Sales Report at 10 a.m. ET Before the bell: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Ally Financial (ALLY), Halliburton Company (HAL), Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW), TE Connectivity Ltd. (TEL), Prologis, Inc. (PLD), Teledyne Technologies Inc. (TDY), Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV) After the bell: Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI), Banc of California, Inc. (BANC), Banner Corporation (BANR), CACI International, Inc. (CACI) Thursday, Jan. 22 PCE Index at 8:30 a.m. ET Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index at 11 a.m. ET Before the bell: Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. (FCX), GE Aerospace (GE), Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (HBAN), Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (TCBI), Abbott (ABT), McCormick & Company, Incorporated (MKC) After the bell: Capital One Financial Corp. (COF), Intel Corp. (INTC), Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG), Alcoa, Inc. (AA), CSX Corp. (CSX) Friday, Jan. 23 University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Survey (Final) at 10 a.m. ET Before the bell: SLB (SLB), Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (BAH), Comerica, Inc. (CMA), Ericsson (ERIC) (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long NVDA, AVGO, COF and AVGO. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

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Here are the 3 big things we're watching in the stock market in the week ahead

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