Stocks had their first winning week in three. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, the Nasdaq 2.1% and the Dow 0.3%, even as the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to about 5.18%, around its highest since 2007, amid a strong flash PMI and more hawkish Fed commentary – the New York Fed’s John Williams called another rise by year-end “reasonable”. Brent was around $104 on Friday, little changed on the week, as hopes of a US–Iran truce were weighed against continued attacks in the region. This week brings August PCE inflation on Wednesday, the day the quarter ends, and September payrolls on Friday.
Into that, one very large print and a lot of read-across. Micron, worth more than $1.2 trillion, reports on Wednesday against a $50bn revenue guide for a quarter that runs fourteen weeks. Accenture and FactSet put the AI-disruption question to IT services and financial data; Nike reports with its shares around their lowest since 2014; and Carnival, which unlike its two large US rivals reports no fuel hedges, comes in with Brent above $100. Jefferies gives an early look at investment-banking activity ahead of the big banks in mid-October, Capitec a read on the South African consumer, and Stolt-Nielsen a read on chemical shipping with the Strait of Hormuz still disrupted. Twenty-three names make our calendar.
🇺🇸 Micron Technology
Micron reports fiscal fourth-quarter results after the US close on Wednesday, with the call at 2:30pm Mountain time. The guide is $50.0bn of revenue, plus or minus $1bn, at a gross margin of about 86%, with non-GAAP earnings of $31.00 a share. The quarter runs fourteen weeks against thirteen, so part of the step-up from $41.46bn is the calendar: per week, the guide is about 12% above the third quarter, against 21% on the headline. That third quarter set a high base, with revenue up 346% on the year and a non-GAAP gross margin of 84.9%. Consensus sits at about $31.1–31.6 a share on $50.4–51.3bn. The shares closed Friday at $1,082.28, nearly seven times their level a year ago and about 14% below the intraday high set the day after the June report.
Our readWhat management says about fiscal 2027 is the swing factor, because the quarter is largely guided and the shares are priced on how long margins like these last. Management has said it expects DRAM and NAND supply to stay tight beyond calendar 2027; against that, Counterpoint estimates Samsung’s HBM share rose from about 21% in the first calendar quarter to 33% in the second, and TrendForce’s July forecast had third-quarter contract-price gains moderating from a high base. Watch the fiscal 2027 capex plan, where management has said every quarter will exceed the fourth quarter’s roughly $10bn; HBM4 volumes; and pricing commentary for the December quarter. The read-across runs through the AI-hardware chain, with Jabil reporting the same morning.
🇺🇸 Accenture
Accenture reports fourth-quarter and full-year results for the year to 31 August before the US open on Thursday, with the call at 8:00am Eastern. The third quarter set a cautious tone: revenue of $18.72bn was up 6% in dollars but 3% in local currency, new bookings fell 3% in local currency to $19.3bn, and earnings were $3.80 a share. Management narrowed its fiscal 2026 growth guide to 3–4% in local currency, about 1.5 points of it from acquisitions, and guided the fourth quarter to $17.75–18.4bn, or 1–5% in local currency. Consensus sits near $3.18–3.19 a share on about $18.05bn. The shares fell 18% on the day of the June report; at Friday’s $176.11 they are about 39% below January’s high but some 40% above the late-June low, on roughly 12 times fiscal 2027 consensus earnings.
Our readThe first fiscal 2027 outlook is the swing factor, more than the quarter. Management has said acquisitions will add slightly under two points to growth next year and did not commit to its usual margin expansion, and analysts are divided on whether demand turns: Guggenheim downgraded the stock this month, citing slow decisions on large deals. Watch bookings against the $19.3bn of the third quarter; whether federal work returns to growth, as management said it expected; and any evidence on pricing as AI changes how work is scoped – generative-AI bookings have not been broken out since the first quarter, so that number will not be there to lean on. The read-across runs to the IT-services group, with TCS reporting on 8 October, though peers report on different calendars and in constant currency.
🇺🇸 Nike
Nike reports first-quarter results for the three months to 31 August after the US close on Thursday, with the call at 2:00pm Pacific. The fourth quarter showed where the turnaround stands: revenue of $11.0bn, down 4% on a currency-neutral basis, with North America up 3% and Greater China down 17%. Reported gross margin was 49.2%, but that included a one-off benefit of about 900 basis points from expected tariff refunds; without it, margin was 40.2%, down 10 basis points. For the first quarter, management guided revenue down low-to-mid single digits and gross margin slightly higher year on year, against a year-ago quarter when it fell 320 basis points. Consensus sits near $0.44 a share on about $11.3bn. The shares closed Friday at $35.75, around their lowest since 2014 and roughly half their level of a year ago.
Our readWhether gross margin turns up as guided is the swing factor, because it is the first part of the recovery case that can be checked against a number. In March, management had described this quarter as the last with a material tariff headwind; in June it brought the expected expansion forward, against an easy comparison. Watch North America, where management flagged softer traffic from mid-April; whether Greater China’s decline starts to narrow; and how much David Denton, finance chief since August, says ahead of the November investor day. The read-across is to sportswear – JD Sports pointed to North America when it reported lower first-half profit last week – and, more loosely, to H&M, whose third-quarter margin also carried one-off tariff effects.
🇿🇦 Capitec
Capitec publishes interim results for the six months to 31 August on Wednesday, expected before the Johannesburg open, and the headline is already out. A trading statement on 10 September guided headline earnings per share up 18–20%, to 8,215–8,354 cents, and said personal-banking clients had passed 26 million; the shares closed about 4% lower that day. That compares with growth of 26% at the same stage last year and 23% for the year to February, when return on equity was 31% and the credit loss ratio 8.1%, up from 7.5%. The Reserve Bank has since raised the repo rate to 7.25%, its second increase this year. The shares closed Friday at R4,477.55, about 8% below their August record, on roughly 25 times forward earnings; News24 puts the four large incumbent banks at 7–10 times.
Our readWith earnings pre-announced, credit quality is the swing factor: the credit loss ratio was 7.9% at the interim stage last year, and higher rates alongside inflation above target can weigh on some of the unsecured borrowers who make up much of Capitec’s lending. Watch the credit loss ratio by segment; growth in non-interest income, where transaction fees, insurance and value-added services such as the Capitec Connect mobile network have been taking a larger share of earnings; and the interim dividend against 2,620 cents a year ago. The read-across is to the South African consumer and, more loosely, to the listed banks, whose lending mix is quite different.
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🇺🇸 Carnival
Carnival reports third-quarter results for the three months to 31 August before the US open on Tuesday. June’s report was strong on demand: record second-quarter revenue of $6.7bn, net yields up 2.2% in constant currency, customer deposits at a record $9.0bn and 2027 bookings ahead on both volume and price. But the full-year yield guide was cut to about 1.75% in constant currency, on Middle East disruption to European itineraries, and the fuel assumptions – $812 a tonne for the quarter, $713 for the year – were set at June spot prices. Brent has risen by more than a third since. Carnival reports no fuel hedges, whereas Royal Caribbean and Norwegian have each hedged more than half of their remaining 2026 consumption. Consensus sits near $1.35–1.36 a share, in line with guidance. The shares closed Friday at $22.25, down about a quarter since early August.
Our readThe fuel bill against the yield guide is the swing factor. In June, the company put a 10% move in fuel prices at about $102m of adjusted net income over the then-remaining fiscal year, $56m of it in the quarter now being reported, so the question is how much management offsets through pricing and costs, and what it assumes for 2027. Watch the yield outlook for the fourth quarter and 2027, since bookings were running ahead on price in June; whether the full-year adjusted net income guide of about $3.07bn survives; and leverage, at 3.1 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter. The read-across runs to Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, and to travel demand more broadly – though without hedges, Carnival is more directly exposed to fuel-price moves than either rival.
🇺🇸 Jefferies
Jefferies reports third-quarter results for the three months to 31 August after the US close on Monday. Its quarter shares July and August with the big banks’ third quarter, which starts reporting in mid-October, so it offers an early read on advisory and underwriting. The second quarter was strong on revenue but short on earnings: net revenues of $2.21bn were up 35%, with advisory at $674m and equity underwriting about three times the year-ago level, but earnings of $1.02 a share came in below consensus near $1.16. Consensus for Monday is about $1.00–1.04 a share on roughly $2.2bn, against $1.01 a year ago. The shares closed Friday at $47.68, down about 14% since 8 September and roughly 28% over twelve months.
Our readAdvisory is the swing factor, because it tracks the deal pipeline most directly and is where the backlog management pointed to in June should show up first. Watch equity underwriting after the second quarter’s surge; the split between equities and fixed income; and anything further on Point Bonita, the fund at the centre of last year’s First Brands losses – Jefferies wrote its direct exposure to zero earlier this year, but the related litigation remains open, and an SEC inquiry was reported last November. The SMBC alliance keeps deepening, with a Japanese equities joint venture due in January. The read-across is to the big banks’ investment-banking lines, though Jefferies’ mix and calendar differ enough to make it a signal rather than a forecast.
🇺🇸 FactSet
FactSet reports fourth-quarter results for the three months to 31 August before the US open on Wednesday, with the call at 9:00am Eastern. The third quarter was steady: organic annual subscription value, the recurring-revenue measure the market watches, grew 7.1% to $2.49bn and adjusted earnings were $4.53 a share, though the adjusted operating margin fell to 34.0% from 36.8%. Guidance for fiscal 2026 is $130–160m of organic ASV growth, $2.45–2.47bn of revenue and $17.25–17.75 of adjusted earnings. Consensus for the quarter sits near $4.32–4.35 a share on about $629m, at or slightly above the top of what the full-year guide implies. The shares closed Friday at $273.08, about 45% below their late-2024 peak but some 44% above February’s low, on around 14 times forward earnings.
Our readFourth-quarter ASV is the swing factor. The fourth quarter is typically FactSet’s biggest for new subscription value, and management has called last year’s record a tough comparison. Watch where organic ASV growth lands in the $130–160m range; retention, which the company puts above 95% on ASV; and how much of the fiscal 2027 outlook arrives now rather than at the 10 November investor day, including how management sees distribution through AI platforms – OpenAI launched a finance edition of ChatGPT on 10 September, after the quarter closed, with some rival data sets built in and FactSet available as a connector for existing subscribers. The read-across is to S&P Global, Morningstar and LSEG, all part of the same argument over whether AI platforms route business to the data incumbents or around them.
🇬🇧 Stolt-Nielsen
Stolt-Nielsen reports third-quarter results for the three months to 31 August on Thursday, with the release expected before the Oslo open and a presentation at 15:00 CEST. The group runs chemical tankers, storage terminals and tank containers, and the second quarter pulled them apart: revenue rose 5.2% to $750.3m, but EBITDA fell to $177.3m from $210.1m as the average deep-sea tanker time-charter rate dropped 11% to $23,372 a day, while the terminals posted a record operating profit of $29.1m at 93.4% utilisation. The company withdrew its 2026 EBITDA guidance of $600–750m in April, citing the Strait of Hormuz, and chose not to reinstate it in July; on the July call, management pointed to third-quarter tanker rates around May’s level of roughly $24,500 a day. The shares closed Friday at NOK 358, near their twelve-month high.
Our readWhether guidance comes back is the swing factor. The company has tied it to a sustained, orderly normalisation of trade through Hormuz, and estimates of traffic through the strait still vary widely. Watch the tanker time-charter rate against the roughly $24,500 a day pointed to in July – Odfjell, whose quarter runs a month later, has said rates softened after the spring surge; terminal utilisation after a record quarter; and tank containers, where integration costs from the Suttons acquisition held back the second quarter. The read-across is to chemical shipping and liquid storage, a niche corner of the market, with Odfjell’s own third quarter due on 4 November.
Weekly Calendar
Some notable names reporting this week, which closes with the September payrolls report. Times marked “(exp.)” are inferred from past releases, the scheduled call or the home market’s convention rather than stated by the company.
| Company | Country | Sector | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday 28-Sep | |||
| Jefferies | 🇺🇸 | Investment banking & capital markets | AMC |
| Vail Resorts | 🇺🇸 | Mountain resorts | AMC |
| Shimamura | 🇯🇵 | Value apparel retail | Post-close (exp.) |
| IDT | 🇺🇸 | Telecom & fintech services | AMC |
| Tuesday 29-Sep | |||
| Carnival | 🇺🇸 | Cruise lines | BMO |
| CarMax | 🇺🇸 | Used-car retail | BMO |
| Uranium Energy | 🇺🇸 | Uranium mining | BMO |
| AAR | 🇺🇸 | Aviation aftermarket services | AMC |
| Concentrix | 🇺🇸 | Customer-experience outsourcing | AMC |
| Hornbach | 🇩🇪 | DIY & home-improvement retail | BMO (exp.) |
| Wednesday 30-Sep | |||
| Micron Technology | 🇺🇸 | Memory semiconductors | AMC |
| Jabil | 🇺🇸 | Electronics manufacturing services | BMO |
| Capitec | 🇿🇦 | Retail banking | BMO (exp.) |
| FactSet | 🇺🇸 | Financial data & analytics | BMO |
| Conagra Brands | 🇺🇸 | Packaged foods | BMO |
| Cal-Maine Foods | 🇺🇸 | Shell-egg production | BMO |
| Progress Software | 🇺🇸 | Infrastructure software | AMC |
| Saga | 🇬🇧 | Over-50s travel & insurance | BMO (exp.) |
| Thursday 1-Oct | |||
| Accenture | 🇺🇸 | IT services & consulting | BMO |
| Nike | 🇺🇸 | Athletic footwear & apparel | AMC |
| McCormick | 🇺🇸 | Spices & flavourings | BMO (exp.) |
| Acuity | 🇺🇸 | Lighting & building technology | BMO |
| Stolt-Nielsen | 🇬🇧 | Chemical tankers, terminals & tank containers | BMO (exp.) |