U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday after President Donald Trump announced tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, capping a volatile week for markets.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 ended with a weekly loss of 1.6% and 1%, respectively. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the week 0.3% higher.
Source: Investing.com
Over the course of the week, investors processed a wave of significant developments, such as the debut of China’s DeepSeek AI lab, the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, and the latest personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data, which aligned with economist forecasts for both core and headline inflation.
However, markets faced renewed volatility on Friday after Trump unveiled fresh trade measures, including 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% duty on Chinese goods, sparking fresh uncertainty.
The coming week ahead is expected to be another eventful one as investors react to Trump’s aggressive tariffs as well as a flurry of market-moving events.
Most important on the calendar will be Friday’s U.S. employment report for January, which is forecast to show the economy added 154,000 positions. The unemployment rate is seen holding steady at 4.1%.
Source: Investing.com
Elsewhere, the earnings season continues, with the list of notable tech-related names on deck, including Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR), Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT), and Snap (NYSE:SNAP). Some of the other high-profile reporters are Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Uber (NYSE:UBER), Ford (NYSE:F), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), and Pepsico (NASDAQ:PEP).
Regardless of which direction the market goes, below I highlight one stock likely to be in demand and another which could see fresh downside. Remember though, my timeframe is just for the week ahead, Monday, February 3 – Friday, February 7.
Amazon is set to release its fourth quarter earnings report after the market closes on Thursday at 4:00PM ET, and expectations are high. A conference call with CEO Andy Jassy is set for 5:30PM ET.
Market participants predict a sizable swing in AMZN stock after the print drops, according to the options market, with a possible implied move of 6.7% in either direction. Shares gapped up 2.7% after the last earnings report in October.
In the weeks leading up to the report, 33 out of the last 35 EPS revisions have been upward, signaling increased confidence in Amazon’s financial health. Additionally, the company’s investments in automation and artificial intelligence are expected to drive operational efficiencies and enhance profit margins.
Source: InvestingPro
Analysts project earnings per share (EPS) of $1.49, marking an impressive 49% jump from the year-ago period. Revenue is forecast to increase 10.2% year-over-year to $187.3 billion, driven by continued strength in e-commerce and its growing cloud business.
A key area of focus for investors will be the performance of Amazon Web Services. AWS revenue surged 19% in Q3 to $27.5 billion, reaffirming Amazon’s leadership in the cloud computing space ahead of rivals like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure and Google Cloud.
As is often the case, guidance will be just as crucial as the earnings numbers. Given Amazon’s dominant position in e-commerce, advertising, cloud computing, and retail, there’s good reason to believe the tech titan will provide an upbeat outlook for the months ahead.
Source: Investing.com
AMZN stock ended Friday’s session at $237.68, a tad below its all-time high of $241.77 reached on Jan. 28. With a valuation of $2.5 trillion, Amazon is the fifth most valuable company listed on the U.S. stock exchange. Shares are up 8.4% so far in 2025.
It is worth noting that InvestingPro’s AI-powered models rate Amazon with an above-average Financial Health Score of 3.2 out of 5.0, emphasizing its strong profit and sales growth outlook.
In contrast, AMD is facing a more challenging outlook as it prepares to report its Q4 earnings this week. The results are due after Tuesday’s closing bell at 4:15PM ET and a call with CEO Lisa Su is set for 5:00PM ET.
The expected move in the options market is about 9% up or down. Shares fell 7% after the company’s Q3 report came out in late October.
In the three months leading up to the earnings update, analysts have slashed their EPS estimates 30 times, compared to just four upward revisions. This downward trend underscores several near-term headwinds that could weigh on AMD’s stock performance.
Source: InvestingPro
Wall Street expects AMD to post earnings per share of $1.09 on revenue of $7.52 billion. While these figures are respectable, a closer look at analyst sentiment suggests potential trouble ahead.
First, AMD operates in an increasingly competitive semiconductor landscape. The company battles Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) in the CPU market for personal computers and servers while also going head-to-head with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) in the GPU segment.
Nvidia’s continued dominance in AI and data center technology has placed additional pressure on AMD, particularly as Nvidia expands its offerings in accelerated computing with new Arm-based CPUs.
Taking that into account, CEO Lisa Su may adopt a cautious tone in her forward guidance, acknowledging these industry-wide challenges.
Adding to the uncertainty, AMD has been caught in the recent volatility surrounding the semiconductor sector, exacerbated by news of DeepSeek’s AI advancements. Investor sentiment has been shaken as market participants reassess their positions in chip stocks, contributing to recent downward pressure on AMD’s share price.
Source: Investing.com
AMD stock closed at $115.95 on Friday, not far from a recent 52-week low of $112.80 touched on Jan. 27. At its current valuation, AMD has a market cap of $188.2 billion. Shares, which are trading below their key moving averages, are down 4% to start the new year.
Be aware that AMD currently has a subpar InvestingPro Financial Health score of 2.3 out of 5.0 due to lingering concerns about sales growth and free cash flow.
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Disclosure: At the time of writing, I am short on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 via the ProShares Short S&P 500 ETF (SH) and ProShares Short QQQ ETF (PSQ).
I regularly rebalance my portfolio of individual stocks and ETFs based on ongoing risk assessment of both the macroeconomic environment and companies’ financials.
The views discussed in this article are solely the opinion of the author and should not be taken as investment advice.
Follow Jesse Cohen on X/Twitter @JesseCohenInv for more stock market analysis and insight.
