Here are the 5 big things we’re watching in the stock market this week
Monday brings the first trading day of March on Wall Street after the S&P 500 lost nearly 1% in February and has maintained only a modestly positive trend since the beginning of the year. It seems that the US-Israeli attack on Iran over the weekend will spread in financial markets next week. It was already going to be a week full of important business data and Club earnings reports. 1. The situation in the Middle East is fluid and a lot can happen between now and the start of regular trading on Wall Street. The futures market opens at 6pm ET on Sunday. This is also when oil futures begin trading, and the price of crude oil will be a key indicator in assessing what the conflict could mean for the global economy and stocks. Iran is a major OPEC producer. Whenever tensions rise in the Middle East, oil tends to rise further as traders price in an additional “geopolitical risk premium.” This had already happened in recent weeks, as the US military presence in the region increased and the global benchmark Brent crude oil rose to around $73 per barrel from $60 at the beginning of the year. Brent reached its highest levels since July 2025 on Friday. Now, the potential for supply disruptions, particularly involving the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for crude oil between Iran and Saudi Arabia, threatens to push prices even higher. On Sunday, OPEC and its allies, known collectively as OPEC+, agreed to a modest production increase for April. 2. CrowdStrike reports quarterly results after the closing bell on Tuesday. This gives CEO George Kurtz another chance to explain to investors why cybersecurity companies shouldn’t be lumped in with the broader enterprise software group that’s been decimated in recent weeks over fears of AI disruption. CrowdStrike shares are down more than 20% year to date. During the Club’s February Monthly Meeting on Friday, Jim Cramer reiterated that CrowdStrike and its fellow Club name, Palo Alto Networks, are not as vulnerable to AI influence as traditional software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers. However, he added that he could not fight the market, signaling that the Club could no longer have it both ways. He said he favors CrowdStrike over Palo Alto, which reported strong earnings but noisy guidance on Feb. 17. In addition to CrowdStrike’s upcoming results, we’re interested in learning more about the SGNL and Seraphic acquisitions announced this year. Wall Street expects CrowdStrike to report fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter revenue of $1.3 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.10, according to LSEG consensus estimates. 3. Broadcom’s earnings on Wednesday evening provide another look at the state of data center demand for AI chips. Given last week’s strong quarter and Nvidia’s guidance, we’re not too concerned about the overall level of demand and expect Broadcom’s comments going forward to be positive. The bulk of this year’s massive hyperscaler capital expenditures will flow into Broadcom’s networking and custom chip businesses. Look for talk of a new custom chip customer and/or management backing out over concerns that AI could disrupt Broadcom’s infrastructure software business. Of course, market sentiment around AI has been weak lately, and Broadcom’s strong numbers could still be met with a sell-off. That’s what happened to Nvidia shares last Thursday. During our Monthly Meeting, Jim said he still believes CEO Hock Tan can move Broadcom shares up. Unlike recent years, Broadcom and Nvidia are both lower in 2026. Wall Street expects Broadcom to report fiscal 2026 first-quarter revenue of $19.14 billion and earnings per share of $2.02, according to LSEG. 4. Costco reports its latest quarter after the close on Thursday. The retail giant publishes sales figures monthly, so we already have a good idea of what the headline figures should look like. Ultimately, the real value of the Costco edition is the post-earnings conference call. Costco’s massive scale means it can offer unique insights into shopping trends. Specifically, we want to know if the administration has noticed any changes in how consumers allocate their dollars as Americans continue to focus on value in the face of higher prices. When it comes to key metrics, it’s all about membership renewal rates, as the stock’s decline in 2025 coincides with a decline in renewal rates. The company is experiencing some pressure due to the increasing number of online registrations, which tend to renew at a lower rate. The stock has managed to rally with a 16% gain so far in 2026. We want to know if there are any updates on the refund of tariffs already collected following the Supreme Court’s decision striking down President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs. Before the high court’s decision on February 20, Costco sued the Trump administration for a full refund of the tariffs. Wall Street expects Costco to report fiscal 2026 second-quarter revenue of $69.22 billion and earnings per share of $4.56, according to LSEG. 5. This week’s two jobs reports were released on Wednesday and Friday. ADP’s monthly review of hiring trends at U.S. companies on Wednesday morning is a warm-up to Friday’s government jobs report. Economists are looking for the ADP report, which would show 55,000 private sector job additions in February, according to FactSet. This would be more than double the growth of 22,000 in the previous month, which was well below expected. For Friday’s government jobs report, economists expect nonfarm payroll growth for February to be 60,000 positions; hourly earnings increased by 0.3% monthly and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3%. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 130,000 in January, much more than expected; this was pretty much the opposite of last time’s ADP reading. We’ll see if this week’s February employment data will change the market’s view that the Fed will keep interest rates steady at its March meeting. Last Friday’s hot producer price index in February hurt the stock market that day, but did little to sway the rate consensus in either direction. Next week, Monday, March 2 Before the bell: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), Computing (QUBT) 10:00 AM ET: ISM Manufacturing Tuesday, March 3 Before the bell: Best Buy (BBY), Target (TGT), Sea Limited (SE), AutoZone (AZO), Antalpha Platform Holding Company (ANTA), On Holding (ONON) After the bell: CrowdStrike (CRWD), GitLab (GTLB), Rigel Pharmaceuticals (RIGL), B&G Foods (BGS), Box (BOX) Wednesday, March 4 Before the bell: Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Dycom Industries (DY), Wix.com (WIX), SmartRent (SMRT), Stevanato Group (STVN), AFC Gamma (AFCG), Bath & Body Works (BBWI), Brown-Forman (BF.B) After the bell: Broadcom (AVGO), Rigetti Computing (RGTI), Veeva Systems (VEEV), Okta (OKTA), Ooma (OOMA), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 8:15 a.m. ET: ADP Employment Survey 10 a.m. ET: ISM Services PMI Thursday, March 5 Before the bell: Amprius Technologies (AMPX), Ciena (CIEN), Kroger (KR), JD.com (JD), Liquidia Technologies (LQDA), Burlington Stores (BURL), Tango Therapeutics (TNGX), Victoria’s Secret & Co. (VSCO) After the bell: Costco Wholesale (COST), Marvell Technology (MRVL), GoPro (GPRO), Samsara (IOT) 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial Unemployment Claims Friday, March 6 Before the bell: Genesco (GCO) 8:30 a.m. ET: Nonfarm Payrolls 8:30 a.m. ET: Retail Sales (See here for a complete list of stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trading alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable foundation’s portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he would wait 72 hours after issuing the trading alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH THE DISCLAIMERS. NO CIVIL OBLIGATIONS OR DUTIES EXIST OR SHALL BE RESULTING FROM YOUR RECEIVING ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. 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