Nvidia Guidance, Home Depot Outlook, and Data Drive Market Focus

The coming week will test how durable the market rally is as investors home in on three principal catalysts: Nvidia's earnings and forward guidance, Home Depot's signals on housing related consumer spending, and key economic readings that bear on inflation and interest rates.

Nvidia, widely viewed as the most important earnings report of the quarter, will release results after the market close on Wednesday. Beyond revenue and profit figures, the street will be watching for forward looking comments from management. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said he has visibility into five hundred billion dollars in sales through the end of 2026. Analysts and traders will parse that remark closely for implied demand trajectories for artificial intelligence chips and for commentary on the timing of any production ramp.

The market arrives at Nvidia with big expectations. Semiconductor capital spending and component supply remain central to the availability of quality goods ahead of the holiday shopping season, and any signals of constrained supply or delayed production could affect retailers and consumer electronics makers. Conversely, stronger than expected guidance would bolster investor confidence in the technology sector and could lift sector multiples, given Nvidia's outsized influence on index performance.

Home Depot kicks the week off with results before the opening bell on Tuesday. The company is a bellwether for housing related consumer spending, and management commentary on the interest rate environment for 2026 will be closely watched. Mortgage rates influence new home construction, while shorter term borrowing costs affect renovation activity. Investors will look for color on how sustained elevated rates could weigh on demand for big ticket home projects beyond the current quarter. The retailer also has a strategic transaction to consider in earnings season. Shareholders of CyberArk, an identity security specialist that Home Depot agreed to acquire, voted to approve the sale last week, and analysts will seek updates on integration plans and any near term implications for Home Depot's capital allocation.

Macroeconomic releases are tightly packed and could sway market expectations for Federal Reserve policy. On Monday the Empire State manufacturing index for November will be released at 8 30 a.m. Eastern. On Tuesday at 9 15 a.m. the October reports on industrial production and capacity utilization arrive. Those figures feed directly into models for domestic demand and inflationary pressure through the production side of the economy. Elevated capacity utilization and strong industrial output would complicate the Fed's path to easing, while softer readings could open the door to rate cuts next year, with knock on effects for mortgage costs and housing activity.

Other notable earnings this week include Baidu, PDD Holdings and Medtronic, a batch of results that will help flesh out technology and health care narratives. At the aggregate level, FactSet shows the blended year over year earnings per share growth rate for the S&P 500 in the third quarter at 13.1 percent. If that pace holds through reported results it would mark the fourth consecutive quarter of double digit earnings growth, a statistic that informs longer term valuations and investor positioning.

For markets, the week is less about surprise headline numbers and more about the quality of forward looking information. Guidance from corporate America coupled with production and capacity data will determine whether the recent rally extends into the holiday season or requires recalibration around interest rates and supply dynamics.