Results due from about one quarter of S&amp;P 500 companiesAlphabet, Amazon, Lilly among those reportingMonthly US jobs report comes after Fed pauses rate cutsBy Lewis KrauskopfAnother huge batch of corporate earnings including from megacaps Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and Amazon (AMZN.O) will test the U.S. stock market in the coming week after a disappointing report from heavyweight Microsoft (MSFT.O) weighed on equity indexes. Wall Street also will focus on the monthly U.S. jobs report due on February 6. This week, the Federal Reserve pointed to signs of stabilization in the labor market as the U.S. central bank paused its interest rate-cutting cycle.With the stock market entering the fourth year of a bull market, investors have been wary of rising valuations, particularly for high-flying names benefiting from optimism over artificial-intelligence-driven profits.Microsoft, which has spent massively on infrastructure to support AI applications, saw its shares battered on Thursday after its cloud business failed to impress, while software shares were broadly punished amid further disappointment elsewhere in the industry.“For those companies where expectations have become very, very lofty, the onus is going to be on them to deliver,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer with Plante Moran Financial Advisors. “Even if they show growth, if it is growth that is not up to the expectations of the market, there is a risk there that their stock price could be punished.”Despite declining at the end of the week, the benchmark S&amp;P 500 (.SPX) remained up over 1% for the year and not far from record-high levels. The index earlier in the week broke above the 7,000 level for the first time, before pulling back.Investors in the coming days will continue to digest a series of developments on Friday, including President Donald Trump’snomination of former Fed Governor Kevin Warshto be the central bank’s next chair.Stunning declines in prices of gold and silveron Friday, following huge climbs for the precious metals, also kept markets on edge.BIG EARNINGS WEEK ON TAP About one quarter of the S&amp;P 500 is set to report quarterly results in the coming week, with strong expected U.S. profit growth a key source of optimism underpinning bullish outlooks for equities in 2026.Of 166 S&amp;P 500 companies that reported results as of Friday, 76.5% posted earnings above analysts’ expectations, nearly in line with the 78% rate over the prior four quarters, according to LSEG IBES. Fourth-quarter earnings are expected to have climbed 10.9% from a year earlier.In contrast to Microsoft, Meta Platforms (META.O) – another megacap company and major AI spender – posted strong sales in its quarterly report that boosted its shares on Thursday.Investors will now focus on results and capital spending plans from Google parent Alphabet and Amazon, two other AI-focused “hyperscalers.”“Although investor reaction to earnings announcements from a couple of the hyperscalers was mixed, it did confirm that capex spending on building out AI infrastructure will not see any letup,” said Sid Vaidya, chief investment strategist at TD Wealth.Other companies set to report next week include weight-loss drugmaker Eli Lilly (LLY.N) , chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) and media giant Walt Disney (DIS.N) . S&amp;P 500 companies overall are expected to increase earnings by 15% in 2026, putting their financial outlooks under the microscope.“The stock market is largely reflecting the positive fundamentals that are driving that, and earnings growth is the biggest component of that,” Vaidya said.A STABLE JOBS MARKET? The coming week’s jobs report will also give Wall Street a critical look at the economy’s health. The nonfarm payrolls report for January is expected to show growth of 64,000, according to a Reuters poll.Data flow is normalizing following the lag effects from the 43-day government shutdown late last year that delayed key economic reports. The monthly consumer price index, closely watched for inflation trends, is due the following week.“We haven’t really gotten a lot of clean looks at the state of the labor market and inflation because of that government shutdown last year, so we think those are going to probably be more important than usual,” said Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede. Following Wednesday’s Fed meeting, markets are now pricing in the central bank to hold off on further rate cuts until its June meeting, although any surprise weakening in the labor market could sway those expectations.“The broad sense is that the economy is on a decent growth trajectory here going forward, and I would expect that that alone should help to provide a little bit of a floor under payrolls,” Baird said.

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- The U.S. stock market will be tested by a significant release of corporate earnings, including reports from Alphabet and Amazon, following mixed results from Microsoft.  
- The upcoming monthly U.S. jobs report is also anticipated, with expectations for a growth of 64,000 in nonfarm payrolls amidst signs of labor market stabilization.  
- Investors are focused on maintaining optimism for strong earnings growth in 2026, despite recent volatility in the market and concerns over rising valuations for high-profile tech companies.

Reuters

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Wall St Week Ahead-Heavy earnings week, jobs data to test US stocks after Microsoft swoon