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Big-Box Retailers Like Walmart Report Earnings This Week
Want More Interesting Earnings? Try Euro Mining
Economic Reports Abound Across the Planet
What is going on in this Global Week Ahead?
Much of Asia will be off, to celebrate the Lunar New Year, as the “Year of the Fire Horse” begins, a rare combination said to pair elements of energy with volatility.
Share markets will hope for signs of the former from consumer bellwether Walmart's results, while
European miners' earnings face plenty of the latter in commodity markets
Leading economic indicators and U.K. data are trickling in through the week, and
Indonesia faces a critical central bank decision
Next are Reuters’ five world market themes, re-ordered for equity traders—
(1) Across the Coming Week, U.S. Big Box Retailers Report Q4 Results
Fresh off hitting $1 trillion in market cap, Walmart (WMT - Free Report) will post quarterly results that offer a glimpse into consumer spending in the wake of mixed signals from U.S. economic data.
Walmart's report on Thursday comes after recent data showed December U.S. retail sales were unexpectedly flat, potentially setting consumer spending on a slower growth path heading into 2026, though a surprisingly strong employment report for January eased some concerns about economic weakening.
Walmart precedes a bevy of reports from other retailers in the coming weeks, including Home Depot (HD - Free Report) , Lowe's (LOW - Free Report) and Target (TGT - Free Report) .
Economic reports in the coming week include the advance reading of fourth-quarter GDP, a monthly consumer sentiment survey, and the personal consumption expenditures price index, a key inflation measure.
(2) Across the Week, Europe’s 4 Largest Mining Companies Report Results, Too
Europe's four largest mining companies — Rio Tinto (RIO - Free Report) , Glencore, Anglo American (NGLOY - Free Report) and Antofagasta — are reporting earnings in the coming week, at a time when some of the metals they mine have scaled new price peaks.
Copper, gold, silver and other precious metals all recently hit records, but the relentless rally seen during January has been more sporadic this month.
The demand picture for metals is well known. Data centers need copper, as does the grid infrastructure needed to power the AI build-out. U.S. political uncertainty and worries about the independence of the Federal Reserve have propelled gold — and, to some extent, silver — higher.
That surge has seen the four companies' market value jump by more than $65 billion since the start of the year, despite the abandoned merger between Glencore and Rio Tinto. The group's earnings could determine if that continues.
(3) Some Important “Flash” PMIs Come Out
A lot of the uncertainties that plagued companies around the world, from Europe to the engines of "Factory Asia,” this time last year — namely, U.S. tariffs — have not exactly gone away, but they're a lot more in hand.
And this is showing up in global surveys of business activity, which in January showed a pickup in most major economies.
Services are gathering momentum as price pressures continue to subside, while manufacturing is acting as more of a drag.
The surveys don't just tell investors what has happened. Sub-indexes on new orders, employment and pricing all give a sense of how companies are preparing for the months ahead.
With a lot of questions hanging over longer-term job security and company bottom lines from the rollout of artificial intelligence right now, investors may scour February's flash purchasing managers' surveys more closely than usual.
(4) Fresh U.K. Labor Market Data and CPI Readings Come Out; Starmer Exhales
U.K. labor market data and inflation readings will provide fresh fodder for markets, even though investors are still digesting the fallout from the recent instability at the heart of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government.
Labor market numbers due on Tuesday will show if a gradual cooling of wage growth — closely watched by the Bank of England — has continued.
Attention shifts to January inflation data on Wednesday. The reading rose to 3.4% in December, down from a peak of over 11% in 2022 but still the highest in the Group of Seven economies.
While lower energy prices coming into effect in April should help drag inflation closer to the BoE's 2% target, much of that slowdown is due to one-off factors.
With political turmoil creating a febrile backdrop for sterling and gilts, markets will be sensitive to data shifts, while Fitch is due to review its U.K. rating on Friday.
(5) Bank Indonesia (a Central Bank), the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Make Monetary Policy Decisions
Bank Indonesia's policy meeting on Thursday will be closely watched by investors after MSCI threatened a downgrade to frontier market status last month, triggering a $80 billion wipeout — the country's worst rout since the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
Soon after, Moody's cut the country's credit rating outlook, while rival benchmark compiler FTSE said it would postpone a scheduled index review.
The central bank could resume its easing cycle after cutting interest rates by a total of 150 basis points between September 2024 and September 2025.
Elsewhere, on Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will announce the first monetary policy decision since Governor Anna Breman joined from Sweden's Riksbank in December.
Breman is expected to hold rates, but growth has rebounded sufficiently quickly that her next move is expected to be a hike — perhaps as soon as September.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stocks
(1) Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR - Free Report) : This is a $1,156 a share stock, with a market cap of $57.3 billion. It is found in the Zacks Semiconductor-Analog and Mixed industry. There is a Zacks Value score of F, a Zacks Growth score of B, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Monolithic Power Systems designs, develops and markets high-performance power solutions. The company focuses on the market for high-performance analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs).
Monolithic's products are widely utilized in industrial applications, telecommunication infrastructures, cloud computing, automotive and consumer applications. Being a fabless company, Monolithic works with third-party contractors and chip assemblers for the manufacturing, assembling and testing of wafers and ICs.
This approach permits the company to focus more on the designing and development of process technology at a lower-fixed cost. Unlike other fabless semiconductor companies, Monolithic installs its own proprietary process technologies in third-party contractors' equipment and facilities.
(2) Cardinal Health (CAH - Free Report) : This is a $215 a share stock, with a market cap of $52.7B. It is found in the Zacks Medical-Dental Supplies industry. There is a Zacks Value score of A, a Zacks Growth score of C, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Cardinal Health Inc. is a nation-wide drug distributor and provider of services to pharmacies, healthcare providers and manufacturers.
The company has two reporting segments: Pharmaceutical and Medical.
The Pharmaceutical segment is the second largest pharmaceutical distributor in the United States and the largest nuclear pharmacy. Its products and services include pharmaceutical distribution, manufacturer and specialty services, and nuclear and pharmacy services.
The Medical segment manufactures products such as single-use surgical drapes, gowns and apparel; exam and surgical gloves; and fluid suction and collection systems and offers sterile and non-sterile procedure kits.
These products are sold directly or distributed via third-party sources in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America and the Asia/Pacific.
(3) Erste Group Bank (EBKDY - Free Report) : This is a $63 a share stock, with a market cap of $49.7B. It is found in the Zacks Foreign Bank industry. There is a Zacks Value score of C, a Zacks Growth score of F, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.
The Erste Bank der Muster is a traditional banking group and providering financial services in Central and Eastern Europe.
It focuses on retail and SME banking.
It offers a range of products through group-wide bundling of product know how into Competence Centers covering, among others, Debt financing, Equity capital markets, Mergers and acquisitions, Debt advisory, Project financing, Syndication, Real Estate financing and solutions, Infrastructure Finance & Public Sector, Merchant Banking / Private Equity, Leasing solutions (IMMORENT), and Corporate Cash Management.
Its customers can avail its products in net-banking, whether it is Komfort-Kredit, Profit account, Bonus account, Building society contract, Pension plan or the order of MasterCard or VISA Card.
Erste Bank focuses on private clients, corporate clients and the public sector. it offers all financial products under one roof. It operates in the areas of investment, construction and living, and leasing.
Erste Bank is based in Vienna, Austria.
Key Global Macro
The Chinese New Year started on Sunday.
On Monday, Mainland China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for January came out down -11.7% year over year (y/y), though new foreign-invested firms are up, primarily on high-tech manufcturing growth. The prior FDI reading was down -9.5% y/y.
On Tuesday, U.S. ADP 4-week employment change comes out. A paltry +6.5K number is the prior reading. The U.S. labor market has been stalled since “Liberation Day” in April 2025.
New Zealand’s RBNZ issues its latest monetary policy statement.
On Wednesday, U.S. Housing Starts (1.246M is the prior) and U.S. Building Permits (1.412M is the prior) data from November come out.
The latest U.S. FOMC minutes come out, from the January meeting.
On Thursday, the latest weekly U.S. Initial (227K is the prior) and Continuing (1.862M is the prior) Jobless Claims come out.
Initial claims are staying low. Continuing claims keep rising.
That is the ‘low hire/low fire” and stagnant job openings U.S. labor market for you.
Japan’s Jibun Bank manufacturing (51.5 is the prior) & services (53.7 is the prior) PMIs come out.
On Friday, the Euro Zone HCOB manufacturing (49.5 is the prior) and services (51.3 is the prior) PMIs come out.
The U.S. core PCE inflation data for December comes out. The prior broad PCE reading was +2.8% y/y.
The prior core PCE reading was +2.9%. This is the consumer inflation data the FOMC cares most about.
Conclusion
On Feb. 12th, 2026, Zacks Research Director Sheraz Main put his latest Q4 earnings comments out:
In terms of the Q4-25 earnings season scorecard, we now have results from 358 S&P500 members, or 71.6% of the index’s total membership.
Total earnings for these companies are up +13% from the same period last year, on +8.9% higher revenues.
75.7% beat EPS estimates and 72.1% beat revenue estimates.
Within that, the Tech sector’s Q4-25 earnings results have been very good.
But what accounts for the group’s stock market underperformance in recent days? It can broadly be connected to two factors.
1. At one level is the resumption of the market’s unease with the ever-rising capex budgets from the “Mag 7” group.
This isn’t a new issue and has been with us for some time, but this reemerged as a headwind for the group after bigger-than-expected capex announcements from Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) , Meta (META - Free Report) and Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) on their respective Q4 earnings calls.
2. The other issue is tied uncertainty around the legacy software business in the coming AI world, with many investors fearing that these software operators may not be as profitable going forward as they have been in the past.
With respect to actual earnings, both results for Q4-25 and outlook for the current and coming quarters, the Tech sector remains well positioned.
The group has been a key growth driver over the last few years and it continues to play that role in the Q4-25 earnings season and is expected to remain a leader in the coming periods as well.
Enjoy trading, across this 4-day Global Week Ahead.
Warm Regards,
John Blank, PhD. Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist
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Big-Box U.S. Retailers Report: Global Week Ahead
Key Takeaways
What is going on in this Global Week Ahead?
Much of Asia will be off, to celebrate the Lunar New Year, as the “Year of the Fire Horse” begins, a rare combination said to pair elements of energy with volatility.
Next are Reuters’ five world market themes, re-ordered for equity traders—
(1) Across the Coming Week, U.S. Big Box Retailers Report Q4 Results
Fresh off hitting $1 trillion in market cap, Walmart (WMT - Free Report) will post quarterly results that offer a glimpse into consumer spending in the wake of mixed signals from U.S. economic data.
Walmart's report on Thursday comes after recent data showed December U.S. retail sales were unexpectedly flat, potentially setting consumer spending on a slower growth path heading into 2026, though a surprisingly strong employment report for January eased some concerns about economic weakening.
Walmart precedes a bevy of reports from other retailers in the coming weeks, including Home Depot (HD - Free Report) , Lowe's (LOW - Free Report) and Target (TGT - Free Report) .
Economic reports in the coming week include the advance reading of fourth-quarter GDP, a monthly consumer sentiment survey, and the personal consumption expenditures price index, a key inflation measure.
(2) Across the Week, Europe’s 4 Largest Mining Companies Report Results, Too
Europe's four largest mining companies — Rio Tinto (RIO - Free Report) , Glencore, Anglo American (NGLOY - Free Report) and Antofagasta — are reporting earnings in the coming week, at a time when some of the metals they mine have scaled new price peaks.
Copper, gold, silver and other precious metals all recently hit records, but the relentless rally seen during January has been more sporadic this month.
The demand picture for metals is well known. Data centers need copper, as does the grid infrastructure needed to power the AI build-out. U.S. political uncertainty and worries about the independence of the Federal Reserve have propelled gold — and, to some extent, silver — higher.
That surge has seen the four companies' market value jump by more than $65 billion since the start of the year, despite the abandoned merger between Glencore and Rio Tinto. The group's earnings could determine if that continues.
(3) Some Important “Flash” PMIs Come Out
A lot of the uncertainties that plagued companies around the world, from Europe to the engines of "Factory Asia,” this time last year — namely, U.S. tariffs — have not exactly gone away, but they're a lot more in hand.
And this is showing up in global surveys of business activity, which in January showed a pickup in most major economies.
Services are gathering momentum as price pressures continue to subside, while manufacturing is acting as more of a drag.
The surveys don't just tell investors what has happened. Sub-indexes on new orders, employment and pricing all give a sense of how companies are preparing for the months ahead.
With a lot of questions hanging over longer-term job security and company bottom lines from the rollout of artificial intelligence right now, investors may scour February's flash purchasing managers' surveys more closely than usual.
(4) Fresh U.K. Labor Market Data and CPI Readings Come Out; Starmer Exhales
U.K. labor market data and inflation readings will provide fresh fodder for markets, even though investors are still digesting the fallout from the recent instability at the heart of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government.
Labor market numbers due on Tuesday will show if a gradual cooling of wage growth — closely watched by the Bank of England — has continued.
Attention shifts to January inflation data on Wednesday. The reading rose to 3.4% in December, down from a peak of over 11% in 2022 but still the highest in the Group of Seven economies.
While lower energy prices coming into effect in April should help drag inflation closer to the BoE's 2% target, much of that slowdown is due to one-off factors.
With political turmoil creating a febrile backdrop for sterling and gilts, markets will be sensitive to data shifts, while Fitch is due to review its U.K. rating on Friday.
(5) Bank Indonesia (a Central Bank), the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Make Monetary Policy Decisions
Bank Indonesia's policy meeting on Thursday will be closely watched by investors after MSCI threatened a downgrade to frontier market status last month, triggering a $80 billion wipeout — the country's worst rout since the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
Soon after, Moody's cut the country's credit rating outlook, while rival benchmark compiler FTSE said it would postpone a scheduled index review.
The central bank could resume its easing cycle after cutting interest rates by a total of 150 basis points between September 2024 and September 2025.
Elsewhere, on Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will announce the first monetary policy decision since Governor Anna Breman joined from Sweden's Riksbank in December.
Breman is expected to hold rates, but growth has rebounded sufficiently quickly that her next move is expected to be a hike — perhaps as soon as September.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stocks
(1) Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR - Free Report) : This is a $1,156 a share stock, with a market cap of $57.3 billion. It is found in the Zacks Semiconductor-Analog and Mixed industry. There is a Zacks Value score of F, a Zacks Growth score of B, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Monolithic Power Systems designs, develops and markets high-performance power solutions. The company focuses on the market for high-performance analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs).
Monolithic's products are widely utilized in industrial applications, telecommunication infrastructures, cloud computing, automotive and consumer applications. Being a fabless company, Monolithic works with third-party contractors and chip assemblers for the manufacturing, assembling and testing of wafers and ICs.
This approach permits the company to focus more on the designing and development of process technology at a lower-fixed cost. Unlike other fabless semiconductor companies, Monolithic installs its own proprietary process technologies in third-party contractors' equipment and facilities.
(2) Cardinal Health (CAH - Free Report) : This is a $215 a share stock, with a market cap of $52.7B. It is found in the Zacks Medical-Dental Supplies industry. There is a Zacks Value score of A, a Zacks Growth score of C, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Cardinal Health Inc. is a nation-wide drug distributor and provider of services to pharmacies, healthcare providers and manufacturers.
The company has two reporting segments: Pharmaceutical and Medical.
The Pharmaceutical segment is the second largest pharmaceutical distributor in the United States and the largest nuclear pharmacy. Its products and services include pharmaceutical distribution, manufacturer and specialty services, and nuclear and pharmacy services.
The Medical segment manufactures products such as single-use surgical drapes, gowns and apparel; exam and surgical gloves; and fluid suction and collection systems and offers sterile and non-sterile procedure kits.
These products are sold directly or distributed via third-party sources in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America and the Asia/Pacific.
(3) Erste Group Bank (EBKDY - Free Report) : This is a $63 a share stock, with a market cap of $49.7B. It is found in the Zacks Foreign Bank industry. There is a Zacks Value score of C, a Zacks Growth score of F, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.
The Erste Bank der Muster is a traditional banking group and providering financial services in Central and Eastern Europe.
It focuses on retail and SME banking.
It offers a range of products through group-wide bundling of product know how into Competence Centers covering, among others, Debt financing, Equity capital markets, Mergers and acquisitions, Debt advisory, Project financing, Syndication, Real Estate financing and solutions, Infrastructure Finance & Public Sector, Merchant Banking / Private Equity, Leasing solutions (IMMORENT), and Corporate Cash Management.
Its customers can avail its products in net-banking, whether it is Komfort-Kredit, Profit account, Bonus account, Building society contract, Pension plan or the order of MasterCard or VISA Card.
Erste Bank focuses on private clients, corporate clients and the public sector. it offers all financial products under one roof. It operates in the areas of investment, construction and living, and leasing.
Erste Bank is based in Vienna, Austria.
Key Global Macro
The Chinese New Year started on Sunday.
On Monday, Mainland China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for January came out down -11.7% year over year (y/y), though new foreign-invested firms are up, primarily on high-tech manufcturing growth. The prior FDI reading was down -9.5% y/y.
On Tuesday, U.S. ADP 4-week employment change comes out. A paltry +6.5K number is the prior reading. The U.S. labor market has been stalled since “Liberation Day” in April 2025.
New Zealand’s RBNZ issues its latest monetary policy statement.
On Wednesday, U.S. Housing Starts (1.246M is the prior) and U.S. Building Permits (1.412M is the prior) data from November come out.
The latest U.S. FOMC minutes come out, from the January meeting.
On Thursday, the latest weekly U.S. Initial (227K is the prior) and Continuing (1.862M is the prior) Jobless Claims come out.
Initial claims are staying low. Continuing claims keep rising.
That is the ‘low hire/low fire” and stagnant job openings U.S. labor market for you.
Japan’s Jibun Bank manufacturing (51.5 is the prior) & services (53.7 is the prior) PMIs come out.
On Friday, the Euro Zone HCOB manufacturing (49.5 is the prior) and services (51.3 is the prior) PMIs come out.
The U.S. core PCE inflation data for December comes out. The prior broad PCE reading was +2.8% y/y.
The prior core PCE reading was +2.9%. This is the consumer inflation data the FOMC cares most about.
Conclusion
On Feb. 12th, 2026, Zacks Research Director Sheraz Main put his latest Q4 earnings comments out:
In terms of the Q4-25 earnings season scorecard, we now have results from 358 S&P500 members, or 71.6% of the index’s total membership.
Total earnings for these companies are up +13% from the same period last year, on +8.9% higher revenues.
75.7% beat EPS estimates and 72.1% beat revenue estimates.
Within that, the Tech sector’s Q4-25 earnings results have been very good.
But what accounts for the group’s stock market underperformance in recent days? It can broadly be connected to two factors.
1. At one level is the resumption of the market’s unease with the ever-rising capex budgets from the “Mag 7” group.
This isn’t a new issue and has been with us for some time, but this reemerged as a headwind for the group after bigger-than-expected capex announcements from Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) , Meta (META - Free Report) and Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) on their respective Q4 earnings calls.
2. The other issue is tied uncertainty around the legacy software business in the coming AI world, with many investors fearing that these software operators may not be as profitable going forward as they have been in the past.
With respect to actual earnings, both results for Q4-25 and outlook for the current and coming quarters, the Tech sector remains well positioned.
The group has been a key growth driver over the last few years and it continues to play that role in the Q4-25 earnings season and is expected to remain a leader in the coming periods as well.
Enjoy trading, across this 4-day Global Week Ahead.
Warm Regards,
John Blank, PhD.
Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist