At a Glance

• Apple holds its annual product event Wednesday, with a possible foldable iPhone expected
• Oracle reports earnings Thursday, with Wall Street watching its AI cloud revenue closely
• Adobe faces scrutiny over whether its AI tools are protecting Creative Cloud growth
• AeroVironment reports Wednesday after a $51 million U.S. Army drone order
• Friday's CPI report could shape the Fed's September rate decision

Wall Street heads into a shortened four-day week with several major earnings reports and a key inflation reading on the calendar.

Markets are closed Monday for Labor Day, leaving investors with a packed schedule from Tuesday through Friday.

The biggest macro event of the week is Friday's Consumer Price Index report for August. A stronger-than-expected jobs report has already pushed up the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at its September 15-16 meeting. Fed funds futures currently put the chances of a hike at around 57%. The Fed has held rates steady for much of this cycle as inflation has cooled from its 2022 peak, and the September meeting will be the central bank's next opportunity to adjust policy, with the CPI print serving as one of the final major data points before that decision.

Producer price data arrives Thursday, making the final two days of the week especially important for rate-sensitive stocks. Rate expectations have weighed most directly on sectors like housing and utilities, but they also shape valuations for growth and technology names, which dominate this week's earnings calendar.

Earnings in Focus

Apple holds its annual product event Wednesday. The company is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, along with what could be its first foldable iPhone. Such a device would represent the biggest change to the iPhone's form factor since the lineup moved to larger screens, and the launch is also the first major product event under new CEO John Ternus. Samsung and other Android makers have been selling foldable phones for several years, so Apple's entry would put it into a category where rivals already have an installed base. Investors will be watching pricing, availability, and any updates on previously delayed AI features.

Oracle reports fiscal first-quarter results after Thursday's closing bell. Wall Street expects revenue of around $19.1 billion, up roughly 28% year over year. Attention will center on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, where investors want to know whether the company's large AI-related order backlog is converting into real revenue quickly enough to justify its data-center spending. Oracle has positioned itself as an alternative to cloud leaders Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud in the market for AI training and inference capacity, and its ability to report accelerating revenue from that backlog has become a central factor in how the market values the stock.

Adobe also reports after the close Thursday. The company previously guided for quarterly revenue of $6.67 billion to $6.72 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $6.05 to $6.10 per share. The key question is whether Adobe's Firefly AI tools are keeping Creative Cloud competitive against lower-cost generative AI platforms. OpenAI, Google, and a wave of startups have rolled out image- and video-generation tools that appeal to some of the same users Adobe serves, which is why subscriber trends and annual recurring revenue will be closely watched.

AeroVironment reports fiscal first-quarter results Wednesday after the close. The defense technology company recently secured a $51 million U.S. Army order for its Switchblade 600 loitering munitions. Drones and loitering munitions have taken on a larger role in defense procurement following their heavy use in recent conflicts, including in Ukraine. Investors will focus on backlog growth and forward guidance given current defense spending trends.

Exxon Mobil has no earnings this week but remains on investor watchlists. Oil markets are sensitive to U.S.-Iran tensions and risks around the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that carries a significant share of the world's seaborne oil trade. OPEC+ decided Sunday to hold its October output policy steady. Higher oil prices could support earnings for major producers like Exxon, but they also add to inflation pressure. A hotter-than-expected CPI reading Friday could further complicate the picture for energy stocks and the broader market.

The post Five Stocks to Watch This Week: Apple, Oracle, Adobe, AeroVironment and Exxon Mobil appeared first on CoinCentral.