Amazon earnings, Merck reports, Southwest Airlines: 3 things to watch

Investing.com — Stocks weakened, led by a sinking Nasdaq after Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s miss on revenue expectations from its cloud operations.

After the wave of enthusiasm for artificial intelligence in the tech sector, earnings reports are showing that some companies are ahead of others. While Alphabet’s cloud revenue rose in the quarter, it didn’t rise as much as analysts had forecast as the parent of Google continues to build out its AI capabilities to compete with other cloud services providers. At the same time, Microsoft (NASDAQ:)’s cloud revenue notched a strong showing.

Tech investors have also been beaten down by sharply rising interest rates in recent weeks, with the 10-year Treasury hitting over 5% this week before drifting lower. But Wednesday’s selloff in the Nasdaq — on pace for its worst performance in months — could bring the dip buyers back in.

Analysts are watching to see what happens at next week’s meeting at the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold interest rates steady when it issues its decision on Wednesday. Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference remarks that afternoon will be closely scrutinized for the Fed’s thinking heading into the end of the year. The Fed will have fresh data to consider, including the first reading of third quarter gross domestic product, due out Thursday, and the September reading on inflation in the form of the personal consumption expenditures index.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Amazon reports

E-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:) is expected to report earnings per share of 58 cents on revenue of $141.5 billion. Analysts will be listening to what it says about the upcoming holiday sales season.

2. Merck earnings

Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:) is expected to report earnings per share of $1.95 on revenue of $15.3 billion.

3. Southwest Air reports

Carrier Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:) is expected to report earnings per share of 38 cents on revenue of $6.56 billion, and analysts will be listening to what executives say about travel demand and fuel costs.