Wall Street investors in the week ahead will primarily focus on the upcoming address by US Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, ahead of the year’s final monetary policy decision. Powell is scheduled to speak at a panel discussion in Stanford on Monday.

Beyond the Fed, market participants will closely monitor a raft of critical economic data releases. These include reports on private employment, manufacturing activity, personal income and spending figures, and the much-anticipated, delayed Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index report — a key inflation gauge for the US central bank.

The week also marks a busy period for the earnings season. Several major retail giants are due to report their quarterly results, including Kroger, Dollar General, and Dollar Tree. Furthermore, chipmaker Marvell and technology giant Salesforce are scheduled to release their latest figures.

Economic Calendar

On December 1 (Monday), separate reports on S&P final US manufacturing PMI for November and ISM manufacturing for November will be released.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at a panel discussion in Stanford on Monday.

On December 2 (Tuesday), TBA Auto sales data for November will be released.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman is scheduled to testify on Tuesday at the 2025 Santander International Banking Conference in Madrid, Spain.

On December 3 (Wednesday), separate reports on ADP employment for November, Import Price Index (delayed report) for September, S&P final US services PMI for November, and ISM services for November will be released.

On December 4 (Thursday), separate reports on initial jobless claims for the week ended November 29 and US trade deficit for October will be released.

On December 5 (Friday), separate reports on personal income and spending (delayed reports) for September, PCE index (delayed report) for September, consumer sentiment (preliminiary) for December, and consumer credit for October will be released.

Earnings

Following companies are due to report third quarter results in the week ahead — MongoDB, CrowdStrike Holdings, Marvell, GitLab, Salesforce, Snowflake, Dollar Tree, C3.ai, Kroger, Ulta Beauty, Hewlett Packard, Dollar General, and Victoria’s Secret.

Markets Last Week

US stocks closed higher on Friday during a shortened session after Thanksgiving, driven by gains in retail and a recovery in tech stocks.

The S&P 500 rose 36.48 points, or 0.5%, to 6,849.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 289.30 points, or 0.6%, to 47,716.42. The Nasdaq Composite added 151 points, or 0.7%, to 23,365.69.

The three indices posted weekly gains. The S&P 500 rose 3.73%, the Nasdaq gained 4.91%, and the Dow climbed 3.18%.

For the month, the S&P and the Dow swung to marginally positive, while the Nasdaq fell 1.51%.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose slightly at 4.02%.