Hello friends and Fortune readers.
With another Kentucky Derby and Mother’s Day in the books, this week the stock market will look to rebound after two rough weeks while a number of major retailers prepare to reveal how they fared during the most recent quarter. The markets will especially be looking at the earnings report from Walt Disney, as the “Mouse House’s” quarterly update for its networks could shed some light on the state of the industry as a whole. And, the two Democratic presidential hopefuls continue battling for delegates ahead of the party’s national convention.
Here’s what you need to know for the week ahead.
1. U.S. stocks
The stock market will look to rebound after suffering its second week of losses in a row—the first back-to-back down weeks since the market’s struggles in February. Since reaching its high point of the year two weeks ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dipped about 2% in the wake of disappointing economic data, weak corporate earnings, and fluctuating oil prices. Stocks actually rose slightly on Friday despite a surprisingly weak monthly employment report for April, but the week still ended with declines of less than 1% for both the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, the latter of which is actually riding a three-week losing streak.
2. Retail sales
Included in this week’s economic data releases will be a report on April’s U.S. retail sales, which are expected to have seen a bump of about 0.7% last month after dipping by 0.4% in March. Further economic data releases are likely to show increased import and export prices in April, a decrease in March job openings, and a rise in U.S. consumer sentiment.
3. Disney earnings
The media and entertainment giant will report its second-quarter financial results on Tuesday afternoon at a time when the company’s film division is poised for a blockbuster year, though investors still worry about the state of networks such as Walt Disney’s (DIS) ESPN. Rising advertising revenue is being offset by falling subscriber totals for the sports network, which often serves as a bellwether for the industry, which means investors will be watching closely for any disconcerting signs. Meanwhile, Disney is expected to beat Wall Street’s revenue forecasts for the quarter after movies Zootopia and The Jungle Book were smash hits at the box office.
4. Retail earnings
Several major U.S. department store operators will report their quarterly earnings this week, starting with Macy’s (M) on Wednesday. Macy’s is expected to report first-quarter profit and sales that fall short of analysts’ expectations even after the company cut its sales forecast for the year. Meanwhile, J.C. Penney (JCP) is expected to post a first-quarter loss, though it will likely be smaller than Wall Street expects, after the company’s stock fell dramatically on Friday due to reports of especially poor April sales. And, Nordstrom (JWN) and Kohl’s (KSS) are also likely to post disappointing quarterly results. Other companies reporting earnings this week include fast-food restaurant chains Shake Shack (SHAK) and Wendy’s (WEN).
5. West Virginia primaries
The battle for Republican delegates became a lot less interesting last week with Ted Cruz and John Kasich departing the presidential primary race, leaving billionaire and former reality TV star Donald Trump as the GOP’s presumptive nominee. Still, Republican voters will head to the polls on Tuesday in Nebraska and West Virginia (with several local seats still up for grabs), while the latter state will also offer another opportunity for the two remaining Democratic candidates to battle for additional delegates. Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton owns a lead of more than 300 delegates (not counting superdelegates) over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has said he will remain in the race until the party’s national convention in July.
—Reuters contributed to this article.
