Stocks on Wall Street finished Friday’s session in the red, after President Donald Trump nominated former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to be the Fed’s next chairman. Stunning declines in prices of gold and silver also kept markets on edge.
Source: Investing.com
Despite Friday’s weakness, the major averages recorded a positive month. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average and benchmark S&P 500 logged gains of 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, for January, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite notched a 1% gain. The small cap Russell 2000 jumped more than 4% in the month.
More volatility could be in store in the coming days as investors assess the outlook for the economy, inflation, interest rates and corporate earnings.
Most important on the economic calendar will be Friday’s U.S. employment report for January, which is forecast to show the economy added 67,000 positions. The unemployment rate is seen holding steady at 4.4%. Ahead of the jobs report, the ISM manufacturing and services PMIs will also be closely watched.
Source: Investing.com
Several important earnings reports are also due. These include ‘Magnificent Seven’ names and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) as well as AI powerhouses Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD). Other notable names include Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pepsico, Walt Disney, PayPal, Uber, Reddit, Roblox, Snap, Qualcomm, and Super Micro Computer.
Meanwhile, the federal government began another shutdown on Saturday, but it should end on Monday.
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 2 – Friday, Feb. 6.
Stock To Buy: Alphabet
Alphabet heads into its quarterly report with expectations for better-than-expected earnings and revenue growth, supported by two powerful engines: renewed strength in its ad business and accelerating contributions from AI across Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud.
The company’s Q4 update is scheduled to come out after the market close on Wednesday at 4:00PM ET. The expected move in the options market is +/-6.4% up or down, skewed mostly toward the upside, as 80% of whisper numbers anticipate a beat.
Profit estimates have been revised upward 29 times in recent weeks, according to an InvestingPro survey, with just five downward revisions, reflecting growing bullishness around Alphabet’s earnings potential.
Source: InvestingPro
Consensus calls for earnings of $2.64 per share, marking a 21.8% increase from the prior year. Meanwhile, revenue is forecast to jump 15.7% year-over-year to $111.1 billion. Cloud growth remains a bright spot, with Google Cloud Platform expected to post over 37% annualized sales increase, fuelled by strong demand for AI infrastructure and enterprise solutions.
A strong beat, coupled with strong forward guidance, could push the stock to new record highs as the search giant capitalizes on monetization from its array of successful AI initiatives and accelerating cloud momentum.
Source: Investing.com
GOOGL stock is trading near its 52-week high ($342.29), above its 50-day moving average ($317.97), and has delivered an 8% YTD return and 66.3% over the past year. Technically, shares have shown resilience, consolidating above key support levels around $325, with potential for a breakout above $350 on positive earnings surprises.
Trade Setup:
Entry: $338-$340 (pre-earnings)
Target: $350-$355 (gain ~5%)
Stop-Loss: $330 (risk ~2.4%)
Stock to Sell: Strategy
, by contrast, is set to report earnings under very different circumstances. The Michael Saylor-led company, which has pivoted to become the world’s largest corporate holder of , faces a challenging outlook amid cryptocurrency volatility.
The firm currently holds approximately 712,647 Bitcoin, acquired at an average price of about $76,037 per BTC, totalling over $54 billion in value at recent prices. However, Bitcoin’s price dipped below this average-cost basis over the weekend for the first time since October 2023, putting the company’s holdings underwater and raising concerns about unrealized losses.
Source: InvestingPro
Strategy is due to report its Q4 earnings results after the close on Thursday at 4:20PM ET.
Analysts expect a loss of -$0.08 per share and revenue of $118.8 million, but the real focus will be on its Bitcoin treasury and impairment charges.
The company reported a staggering $17.44 billion unrealized loss in Q3 2025 due to crypto declines, and similar impairments could weigh on Q4 results.
With shares trading at a discount to net asset value (around 0.7x its Bitcoin holdings), the stock’s beta of 3.4 amplifies downside risks in a risk-off environment.
Source: Investing.com
MSTR stock is down 55.3% in the past year and is trading at $149.71, barely above its 52-week low ($139.36). Technically, shares have broken below their 50- and 200-day moving averages, with momentum indicators signalling oversold conditions but no clear reversal.
High short interest and bearish sentiment suggest further declines if earnings reveal slowed Bitcoin accumulation or increased dilution from capital raises.
Trade Setup:
Entry: $149.71
Target: $130 (gain ~12.7%)
Stop-Loss: $155 (risk ~4%)
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Disclosure: This is not financial advice. Always conduct your own research.
At the time of writing, I am long on the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq 100 via the SPDR® S&P 500 ETF, and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF. I am also long on the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF. 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.
