Markets enter Thursday with a narrow set of catalysts that could tip short-term sentiment toward either risk appetite or caution. Corporate earnings remain the immediate focus: Levi Strauss is due to report quarterly results after the bell, and investors are looking for fresh signals about apparel demand and margin resilience as consumers wrestle with sticky services inflation. Levi shares have been roughly flat year to date, up about 1 percent, placing extra scrutiny on whether the company can sustain pricing and inventory discipline in an increasingly promotional apparel environment.

Also on investors’ radars is PepsiCo, a large-cap consumer staple whose steady profile often serves as a barometer of household spending patterns. While PepsiCo has not been the market’s most volatile name this year, any guidance revisions from major consumer companies tend to ripple through retail and packaged-goods peers, affecting sectors that investors view as defensive in a higher-for-longer rate regime.

Thursday morning brings a different kind of market-moving event: CNBC’s “Squawk Box” will feature an exclusive interview with Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian at 7 a.m. ET. Airline executives have become proxy voices for broader travel demand and input-cost trends; remarks about capacity, fuel outlook or fare dynamics can move not only Delta’s stock but the entire airline group. After a multi-year cyclical recovery, the sector remains sensitive to commentary about ticket pricing and corporate travel trends, both of which feed into earnings revisions.

Momentum names will also draw attention. Wynn Resorts has emerged as one of 2025’s standout winners, climbing more than 40 percent this year and putting it on track for its strongest annual performance since 2017. The casino operator’s rally reflects a combination of stronger-than-expected Macau volumes and domestic visitation trends, but such concentrated gains raise questions about valuation stretch and the potential for mean reversion. “When a single name outperforms sharply, you start to see profit-taking that can cascade,” one institutional trader said, underscoring the risk that idiosyncratic profit-taking could widen into sector moves.

At the same time, several stocks that posted multi-year rallies appear vulnerable. At least one notable equity that had delivered consecutive double-digit gains in prior years has already fallen more than 5 percent this year, a sign that streaks can snap quickly amid shifting macro inputs. That dynamic feeds into a broader theme: market direction is increasingly being driven by company-specific news rather than uniform macro narratives.

Macro-policy context remains an undercurrent. With the Federal Reserve signaling patience but still monitoring inflation, investors are blending corporate data with rate expectations, and any surprises from earnings or CEO commentary will be interpreted through that lens. Short-term volatility is therefore likely, especially among cyclical and consumer-facing names where earnings or management commentary diverge from tempered expectations.

For traders and longer-term investors alike, Thursday’s session promises clarity on a few fronts: whether apparel and staples companies can maintain pricing power, whether travel demand is durable as depicted by airline management, and whether the winners of the early-year rally have more upside or are due for recalibration.