Oracle Earnings, Core CPI, Inflation: 3 Things to Watch

By Dhirendra Tripathi

AiVIF.com -- Stocks mostly gained on Monday with less than a half-hour of trading left, though major technology stocks showed some weakness, as the focus turned to new tax proposals unveiled by Democrats to help pay for President Joe Biden’s social spending plans.

The proposals would raise taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans to help pay for the $3.5 trillion in spending on so-called social infrastructure like education, something the Democrats hope to pass during the budget reconciliation process.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)shares rose ahead of the iPhone maker’s product launch event on Tuesday, which will again be virtual. Over the weekend, Epic Games said it would appeal a judge’s ruling that Apple’s App Store was not a monopoly. 

Stocks of major oil companies also got a boost when the government agreed to sell out of the emergency reserve to companies including Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), Reuters reported.

Several analysts have sounded caution on stocks in recent days. The S&P 500 has hit 54 record closing highs so far this year, and many Wall Street pros are seeing the possibility of a pullback this fall. 

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Earnings from the cloud

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is expected to report first-quarter earnings per share of 97 cents on revenue of $9.76 billion after tonight’s closing bell, though the stock will likely be followed tomorrow as well. The tech giant has been moving more of its business to the cloud, and analysts will be listening for news on that effort.

2. Core consumer prices

Core CPI, which excludes the effects of volatile food and energy prices, is seen rising by 4.2% year-on-year in August, a tad lower than the 4.3% uptick in July. On a month-on-month basis, it is expected to have risen by 0.3% in August, the same tick it grew by in July. The report comes out at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT).

3. Overall, CPI for August

August consumer prices are expected to have risen by 5.3% year-on-year, slower than July’s 5.4%. The July spike of 5.4%, same as June’s, matched the largest jump since August 2008. On a month-on-month basis, CPI is seen having risen by 0.4%. It grew by 0.5% in July. This report also comes out at 8:30 AM ET.