The September-quarter earnings season gets underway in earnest during the coming week as the S&P 500 sets its sights on a sixth straight monthly advance. In fact, April was the index's only down month since the end of October 2023. The week ahead holds a few superlatives: earnings from the world's largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), and the world's largest streaming television operation, Netflix (NFLX).

Goldman Sachs (GS) and Alaska Air (ALK) both face expectations for a strong quarter. Despite the stock market's extended run, a large number of high-quality stocks remain near buy points. Those include Goldman and peer Dow Jones bank JPMorgan (JPM), as well as Alaska Air, Uber (UBER) and Synchrony Financial (SYF).

It's bound to be an interesting week. Have fun, be alert, be kind and make money.

Stocks To Watch: Target Stocks After Big News

Investing always carries risk, but it's always good to get big news events out of the way. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) are near buy points with their earnings in the rearview mirror. Delta is riding the airline industry's nine-week rally. Big banks have rallied for five straight weeks. More earnings are due from both groups in the coming week. Uber's (UBER) breakout waited until after the Tesla robotaxi event eased fears for the ride-hailing giant. Broadcom (AVGO) climbed for a fifth straight week and is tinkering with a buy point on AI chip news. Insurance broker Ryan Holdings (RYAN) held above a buy point through Hurricane Milton.

Economic Calendar: Bracing For Storm-Surge Data

Economic data began to get blown off course over the past week, as jobless claims surged with an assist from Hurricane Helene. In the coming week, new claims for unemployment benefits, out Thursday, should ratchet even higher due to the effects of Hurricane Milton. Economists expect initial claims to rise 12,000 to 270,000 in the week through Oct. 12, after jumping 33,000 the prior week, according to FactSet. September retail sales, also on Thursday, will shed light on the strength of consumers. Economists expect a 0.45% overall rise from August and a 0.25% gain excluding autos, a moderate pickup after both rose a tepid 0.1% the prior month.

The Fed Is Still On Track — For Now — Despite Hot Inflation Data; S&P 500 Rallies

Streaming Entertainment: Zeroing In On Subscribers

Internet television network Netflix will report its third-quarter results late Thursday. Analysts expect the streaming video leader to add 3.9 million subscribers worldwide for a total of 281 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Netflix cancellations spiked in the U.S. after company co-founder and Chairman Reed Hastings endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and donated millions of dollars to her campaign. Analysts polled by FactSet expect Netflix to earn $5.09 a share on revenue of $9.77 billion. That would translate to year-over-year growth of 36% in earnings and 14% in sales. Netflix shares are in a buy zone from an August breakout.

Semiconductors: TSMC Seen Getting AI Boost

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will post its Q3 results early Thursday. The world's largest contract chipmaker produces AI chips for customers Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD) and others. Analysts model Q3 earnings of $1.79 per U.S. share, up 42%, on a revenue gain of 38%, to $23.3 billion. The stock is extended after a breakout in September.

Travel Industry: Friendly Skies For Investors

Airline stocks will try to add a 10th week to their industry rally as United Airlines (UAL), American Airlines (AAL) and Alaska Air line up to report. Earnings declines are expected for United and American. Forecasts see Alaska booking a 21% gain. Shares of United broke out in September. So did Alaska Air's shares, but they've shaped a second handle with a valid buy point. Alaska Air is also the least exposed in the group to cancellations and delays caused by recent hurricanes.

Blue-Chip Radar: The Dow Gathers Q3 Steam

The Dow industrials roll out their first slug of third-quarter reports, after JPMorgan's (JPM) healthy earnings beat on Friday. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), UnitedHealth (UNH), Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble (PG) and American Express (AXP) are all scheduled to report. All but J&J are expected to book earnings gains, with Goldman looking at the steepest forecast, for a 26% earnings increase. It and UnitedHealth are both just below buy points in tight, flat bases, up 33% and 13% year to date, respectively.

Rio Tinto Buys Fallen Lithium Stock As Battery Metal Price Bottoms; Albemarle Gets Target Boost

Metals & Mining: Updates On Steel, Iron Ore

Shares of Steel Dynamics (STLD) climbed for five weeks ahead of Q3 results, due late Wednesday. Analysts expect EPS to fall 43% to $1.97 on a 9% sales decline to $4.177 billion. In a mid-September update, the company said steel demand was steady. Shares are working up the right side of a six-month consolidation. Also, U.K.-based miner Rio Tinto (RIO) will provide an update late Tuesday on Q3 production volume and a full-year outlook. Following its recent $6.7 billion all-cash deal to buy Arcadium Lithium (ALTM) amid depressed prices for the battery metal, CFRA Research said that iron ore will still be the major earnings contributor to Rio.

Stock Market Earnings Briefs

Tuesday

State Street (STT) reports Q3 results early Tuesday. FactSet expects earnings to increase 9.8% to $2.12 per share on about 7% revenue growth to $3.19 billion.

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) will announce third-quarter earnings late Tuesday. Analysts see earnings increasing more than 17% to $1.82 per share on 16.8% revenue growth to $1.34 billion. IBKR stock rallied almost 82% this year.

Wednesday

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) reports third-quarter earnings early Wednesday. Analysts polled by FactSet expect an adjusted $1.20 per share on $10.55 billion in sales. Earnings would rise more than 5% as sales climb 4%.

CSX (CSX) delivers third-quarter results after the stock market close on Wednesday. Analyst consensus has quarterly profit growing 14% with sales rising 3% vs. a year ago. CSX stock is down less than 1% in October. It is basing,  with share around 14% below a traditional 40.12 buy point.

$Synchrony Financial(SYF-B)$ (SYF) is set to release results early Wednesday. FactSet expects a 21.6% earnings increase to $1.80 per share while revenue rises 8.6% to $3.77 billion. SYF stock climbed above a 52.67 buy point Friday. Shares are up almost 39% in 2024. They are in a buy zone from a cup base.

ASML (ASML), the leading supplier of advanced lithography equipment for making semiconductors, releases its third-quarter results early Wednesday. Analysts expect the Dutch company to earn the equivalent of $5.40 a share, up 7% year over year, on sales of $7.9 billion, up 12%. Shares are trading well below their high for the year, set in July.

Friday

SLB (SLB), formerly Schlumberger, announces third-quarter earnings and revenue early Friday. Analysts expect EPS to grow 14% to 89 cents with sales increasing 12% to $9.29 billion. SLB has been climbing past resistance at its 10-week line as oil prices have moved higher in October amid increased tensions in the Middle East.

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