Valuation worries, record-long government shutdown hang over markets: What to watch this week

After another jam-packed week of news and earnings, the earnings and economic calendar suggests a tamer five-day stretch awaits investors in the week ahead.

Tech stocks this past week had one of their worst stretches of the year, with declines in Palantir (PLTR) and Nvidia (NVDA) leading the tech-heavy Nasdaq to a 3% decline. The index posted its worst week since “Liberation Day,” despite staging a late-session comeback on Friday. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 1.7% for the week, and the Dow (^DJI) lost closer to 1.3%.

The US government shutdown, which officially became the longest on record last week, is poised to extend into a sixth week. And while the shutdown continues to crimp official US government economic data releases, private industry sources showed the shutdown’s impact weighing on the outlook.

US consumer sentiment plunged in November, reaching a three-year low as Americans feared the government shutdown’s effects on the economy and their personal finances. Private data released last week also showed that October job cuts hit their highest level for the month since 2003.

Read more: How the government shutdown affects your student loans, Social Security, and more

In the week ahead, investors will get the last major burst of reports for third quarter earnings season, with CoreWeave (CRWV), Oklo (OKLO), and Rocket Lab (RKLB) representing the tech sector. The market will also get results from The Walt Disney Company (DIS), Paramount Skydance (PSKY), Brookfield Corporation (BN), and a range of other companies.

On the economic data side, the ongoing government shutdown is likely to delay the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index reports, which would have headlined the week’s data, as well as retail prices and jobless claims data.

That leaves a very light week for investors on the data front. The National Federation of Independent Business’s small business optimism index and mortgage application data from the Mortgage Bankers Association will lead the stretch.

Yahoo Finance’s virtual Invest event will also kick off live at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 13, with a loaded guest lineup set to feature interviews and discussions from the likes of Pfizer (PFE) CEO Albert Bourla, Starboard Value CEO Jeff Smith, former Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard, and Robinhood (HOOD) CEO Vlad Tenev, among others.

The world’s leading Big Tech companies have gone all-in on artificial intelligence. And investors have gone all-in on their stocks, pushing valuations to new highs.