The Week Ahead: Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon Put AI Spending to the Test as Three Central Banks Meet
I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.Microsoft and Alphabet report Wednesday after the close and Amazon Thursday, with the Fed, ECB and Bank of Japan all meeting and Singapore's SGX, Wilmar and CapLand REITs reporting.
US equities closed last week narrowly mixed: the S&P 500 slipped 0.47% to 7,623.68, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.71% to 25,955.34, while the Dow added 0.41% to 52,215.16. Singapore's Straits Times Index finished at 5,422.16, up 0.12% on the week, a steady showing against a 4.52% fall in Hong Kong's Hang Seng. This week hands the AI trade its heaviest audit of the quarter — Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Intel all report — with rate decisions in Washington, Frankfurt and Tokyo in the background.
Earnings calendar
| Day | Companies |
|---|---|
| Mon | Verizon (pre), Welltower (post) |
| Tue | Coca-Cola (pre), S&P Global (pre), Visa (post), Seagate (post), Novartis (post) |
| Wed | GE Vernova (pre), ADP (pre), Rio Tinto (pre), UBS (pre), Microsoft (post), Alphabet (post), ServiceNow (post), Fortinet (post), KLA (post) |
| Thu | Caterpillar (pre), Mastercard (pre), Merck (pre), Shell (pre), Bristol Myers Squibb (pre), Linde (pre), Anheuser-Busch InBev (pre), Amazon (post), Intel (post), Starbucks (post), Gilead (post), Stryker (post), Sandisk (post) |
| Fri | ExxonMobil (pre), T-Mobile US (pre), AbbVie (pre), AstraZeneca (pre), BP (pre), Unilever (post) |
Wednesday is the pivot. Microsoft and Alphabet report after the close, with cloud growth and capital-spending guidance the numbers that matter; ServiceNow, Fortinet and KLA follow the same evening, delivering a software and semiconductor-equipment read within hours. Thursday stacks Amazon and Intel after the close. Friday belongs to energy and defensives, with ExxonMobil and BP before the open.
Two companies reporting during trading hours carry unusual weight for read-across. SK Hynix reports Tuesday, and its high-bandwidth memory pricing has become the cleanest forward indicator for the AI hardware chain; Boeing reports the same session, still judged on cash burn and deliveries. Eli Lilly reports Thursday and Chevron Friday, filling in the healthcare and refining reads.
Economic calendar
The US slate is thin and front-loaded. Monday brings the Dallas Fed general business activity index, with a prior reading of 9.8. Tuesday is the only dense session: September durable goods orders (consensus +1.5% headline and +0.6% excluding transport, after -0.1% and +0.2%), the FHFA house price index and the Case-Shiller 20-city measure (consensus +2.5% year on year and +0.3% month on month), new home sales (consensus 0.65m against 0.684m) and October consumer confidence from the Conference Board (consensus 81.0 against 81.9), plus the Richmond Fed manufacturing index after -2. No top-tier US data is scheduled from Wednesday onward.
Offshore is where the policy risk sits: the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan all meet this week, and reporting points to the Fed and ECB holding while December stays under debate given energy-driven inflation pressure. Singapore's data calendar is bare, so local direction will come from earnings and from the regional tape.
US: what to watch
Cloud growth against capex guidance is the first test — Amazon's management has flagged the cost of AI inference, and analysts have warned data-centre capacity may run short of demand. Intel's print is the second: adjusted gross margin, 18A foundry progress and capital spending are the contested items, and the shares were reportedly about 8% lower into the results at $85.49. The third is whether the valuation debate widens. Goldman cut its 12-month KOSPI target to 9,000 from 12,000 on AI-related de-rating while still arguing the market trades below fair value, per a Goldman note.
Singapore: what to watch
The STI's 5,422.16 close and 0.12% weekly gain look steady next to the region's losses, helped by an index weighted toward banks, REITs and telcos rather than semiconductors. The week's local catalysts are results: SGX and Wilmar report Wednesday, CapLand IntCom T Thursday morning, CapLand Ascendas REIT and Keppel Thursday after the close. For the REITs the details that count are distributions, occupancy and gearing, now that the wait for rate relief has stretched; SGX's own volumes are the other tell on how much regional volatility is feeding through. The spillover question is whether recent weakness in memory and logic chips reaches Singapore's tech-manufacturing names.
Risks to watch
US midterm elections on 3 November sit just beyond the window, and positioning may stay light into them. On Iran, the US president said a decision point has been reached between a deal and renewed strikes and suggested action could follow the vote; the transmission runs through crude and freight costs. Washington's proposed outbound investment restrictions have drawn a formal objection from China's commerce ministry, keeping tech-investment screening a headline risk. AI infrastructure financing is a variable of its own: SpaceX has reportedly completed $40bn of off-balance-sheet debt funding, arranged with Goldman Sachs, to buy Nvidia chips, with pricing still under discussion.
For information only; not investment advice.