The Week Ahead

Earnings to watch

Major earnings releases will all come before the Thanksgiving holiday, with salesforce.com Dollar Tree, Campbell’s, and Lowe’s, reporting on Tuesday, while Deere will report earnings before the market open on Wednesday. Fast fashion retailer Quiz will also present its first interims on Wednesday since its IPO in July. Its share price performance has not been able to match the meteoric rises of online rivals Asos and Boohoo but its triple-digit online revenue growth has.

Thanksgiving Celebration

This week, markets in the U.S. will be closed on Thursday in observation of Thanksgiving and will re-open for just a half-day on Friday in what should be some of the lightest-volume trading of the year. This also means that the week will have lots of US data crammed into the first three days. Investors will keep their eyes on any potential progress of the tax reform, whether likely or not and economic data on jobless claims, existing homesales and consumer sentiment from Monday to Wednesday.

Saudi energy fund-raising

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) said on Monday it may sell as much as a 20 percent stake in its fuel distribution unit, potentially raising up to $2.8 billion. Analysts have valued the total fuel distribution unit at between $11 and $14 billion in research reports prepared by banks advising the firm on the planned listing, sources have told Reuters. The companies are aiming to complete some of their listings before Saudi Arabia’s IPO of its crown jewel Saudi Aramco in late 2018, as part of a wider multi-billion dollar privatisation programme, bankers say.

Market overview

U.S. stock futures on Monday signaled some losses at the start of trading, as political uncertainty in Germany caused by a breakdown of coalition talks dented investors’ appetite for riskier assets such as equities. Trading volumes are likely to gradually thin out this week, given the runup to the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday and the likelihood that no action will be taken in Washington on the U.S. tax plan until after the holidays.