Markets today: services data and a heavy earnings slate

The week’s labor calendar opens today. ADP’s private-payrolls estimate is due at 8:15 a.m. ET, and the ISM services survey, the session’s highest-importance release, follows at 10:00 a.m. Both arrive two days before Friday’s government employment report. Underneath runs a crowded earnings day: six of the large-cap names Bellwize covers report, Disney and Uber among them.

On the calendar today

The ISM services index lands at 10:00 a.m. ET. It is the day’s highest-importance release. The forecast is 54.5, against 54.0 the prior month. The survey tracks activity across service-sector firms, where a reading above 50 marks expansion. ADP’s private-payrolls change comes earlier, at 8:15 a.m. ET, forecast at 70,000 after 98,000 the month before. The ADP series is a monthly count of private-sector hiring, read as a preview of the government’s payrolls report two days later. At 7:00 a.m. ET, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly 30-year rate printed at 6.81%, up from 6.76%. Energy inventories arrive at 10:30 a.m. ET: the EIA’s weekly crude-oil estimate carries a forecast draw of 1.5 million barrels after a 7.167 million draw the week before, reported alongside the gasoline-stocks figure. The Federal Reserve’s Cook is scheduled to speak at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Reporting today

Six covered companies report today: The Walt Disney Company, Eli Lilly, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66, Shopify and Uber Technologies. The slate spans four sectors.

Backdrop

Stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday. The S&P 500 finished at 7,736.52, up 1.79% on the session. The Dow rose 1.71% to 54,085.88. The Nasdaq Composite led with a 2.59% gain, closing at 26,584.99. Technology shares set the pace. The 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.70%. The VIX stood at 16.67.

The week ahead

• Thursday: earnings from ConocoPhillips, Constellation Energy and Airbnb.
• Friday: the July employment report at 8:30 a.m. ET, covering nonfarm payrolls (forecast 80,000, prior 57,000) and the unemployment rate (forecast 4.2%, holding at 4.2%). Earnings from Vistra.

What to watch

The morning’s two labor prints carry the session. ADP’s payrolls estimate at 8:15 a.m. ET and the ISM services survey at 10 are the day’s clearest reads on hiring and service-sector demand. The services survey is the higher-importance of the two. Both feed a jobs-heavy week.

The earnings docket is the other draw. Disney, Uber and Eli Lilly headline the six covered companies reporting, a list that runs from media to ride-hailing to pharmaceuticals. A slate this broad can move index futures ahead of the bell. Their results will steer sector trading through the day.

Energy has its own markers. The EIA’s weekly crude and gasoline inventory figures are due at 10:30 a.m. ET, the first stockpile reads of the week. Two energy producers, Occidental and Phillips 66, report today, and crude inventories are read as a gauge of supply and demand in the oil market.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.