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Stocks were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Kevin Matras   
Profit from the Pros
By Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President
Zacks Investment Research
  

Shortened Trading Week Poised To Be A Busy One

Stocks were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Regular trading resumes today. And the shortened trading week is shaping up to be a busy one.

Over the weekend, President Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff, starting on February 1, on all goods coming into the U.S. from those countries that have opposed his efforts to control Greenland, namely Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland. Those countries are a part of NATO. (Greenland is also a part of NATO, but only thru Denmark, as they are an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.) Tariffs would rise to 25% on June 1 if no deal is reached on the sale or control of Greenland by then.

In response, the EU is considering retaliatory tariffs and other economic measures, including the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), which could restrict U.S. companies' access to the EU market, impose export and import restrictions, limit U.S. foreign direct investment, and other measures.

The President sees Greenland as strategically important to the security of the U.S. and the Arctic region.

The futures market sank on Sunday evening and Monday morning on the news. Today will be the first regular session the market will have to react to it.

In other news, earnings season picks up this week with another 200+ companies in queue to report with Netflix, Interactive Brokers and 3M due out today; Johnson & Johnson and Charles Schwab due on Wednesday; and GE Aerospace and Intel due on Thursday.

Next week kicks into gear with 485 companies on deck, including 3 of the Magnificent 7 stocks (Microsoft, Tesla and Apple), along with other widely held names like Texas Instruments, Starbucks, IBM, ServiceNow and Caterpillar, to name a handful.

Earnings season is always an exciting time since stocks typically go up during earnings season.

Not much in the way of economic reports out today. But tomorrow we'll get MBA Mortgage Applications, and the Pending Home Sales Index.

This week is the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF), held in Davos, Switzerland. It started Monday evening and runs thru Friday morning. President Trump will attend in person, along with the "largest" U.S. delegation yet. He is expected to speak on Wednesday, 1/21 at roughly 14:30 CET (8:30 AM ET). This year's gathering is being called "historic," with six of the G7 nations being represented, either by the respective heads of state, or senior representatives, amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

In addition to political leaders, there will also be a long list of business leaders in attendance, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; Jensen Huang of NVIDIA; Satya Nadella of Microsoft; Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind; Sarah Friar of OpenAI, and others.

Last week's benign inflation readings, and the previous week's good enough labor report, have helped stocks start the year on a strong note. But that could temporarily be overshadowed by the recent tariff and trade barbs over Greenland.

But ultimately, stocks move on earnings. And a strengthening earnings outlook, alongside a strengthening economic outlook (GDP in Q3 was up 4.3%, with Q4 forecast at 5.3%), remains supportive for stocks.

The market awaits next week's FOMC Announcement on 1/28. Odds are low for a rate cut (only 5.5% probability). But March is at 22.1%; April is at 35.0%; and June (when the new Fed Chair is expected to replace current Chair Jerome Powell after his term expires in May) is at 62.4%.

In the meantime, there should be no shortage of news.

See you tomorrow,

Kevin Matras

Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research

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