Wall Street Braces for Earnings Week as Trade, AI Funding and Rates Stay in Focus

US equities face a heavy earnings week amid cautious sentiment, while US-Canada trade talks, AI financing and rate expectations in the UK shape the global backdrop.

Maz Vantage ·

Wall Street heads into a heavy earnings week

MarketWatch reports that more than a third of S&P 500 companies are due to report earnings in the coming week, with a strategist quoted as saying that "cautious to negative" sentiment could make it a tricky week (MarketWatch). A separate MarketWatch piece, written against the backdrop of the recent stock-market selloff, notes that the S&P 500 has delivered an average return of 15.5% in the nine months between Election Day and June 30 since 1950, a historical pattern rather than a forecast (MarketWatch).

Investing.com notes that Bitcoin steadied near $80,400 after a weekend selloff, with a Fed decision looming (Investing.com).

AI spending and large companies

Investing.com reports that Elon Musk said SpaceX raised $40 billion in debt for GPUs (Investing.com). Another Investing.com article asks whether enough capital exists to finance the ambitious AI spending plans of major companies, a question that underlines how much debt and investor funding the AI build-out now relies on (Investing.com).

Trade and tariffs

Investing.com reports that White House adviser Hassett said the US and Canada are "very close" to a trade deal (Investing.com). The BBC reports that the White House will ease tariffs on some Canadian goods from 30 October, including certain machinery, while placing them on others such as carpets, as the midterm elections approach (BBC).

The Guardian reports that Audi will spend $4 billion on its first US factory, in Macon, Georgia, creating 4,500 jobs. Its parent Volkswagen is dealing with US tariffs, Chinese competition and the costly shift to electric vehicles (The Guardian).

Geopolitics

Investing.com reports that President Trump said there would be no strike on Iran on Sunday, while a Qatari delegation was in Tehran (Investing.com). The sources do not detail any market reaction.

Interest rates in the UK and Europe

The Guardian reports that economists expect the Bank of England to raise rates less than markets price in. Market-implied expectations point to at least four rises, taking Bank Rate from 3.75% to 4.75% by the end of July, while the economists cited consider that unlikely (The Guardian). The European Central Bank published its September Consumer Expectations Survey results on 23 October (ECB).

Sources