Wall Street Bruch: Start Your Earnings Engines (NYSE:JPM)

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JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and other big banks launch earnings season. (0:17) CPI hits as yields hit two-decade highs. (1:18) Trump announces an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. (1:52)

The following is an abridged transcript:

When “The Monster Mash” starts popping up in your algorithm, you know Q3 earnings season is underway.

Back in the day, Alcoa (AA) was the curtain-raiser, and it does report Wednesday. But now big bank week steals the spotlight.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C) report Tuesday, followed by Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS) and BlackRock (BLK) on Wednesday.

The Alpha Analyst says JPMorgan is operating at near-peak conditions, with Q2 return on tangible common equity at about 23% and record Markets and Investment Banking revenue.

The analyst favors starter positions in preferred stock for income, as common shares face multidimensional risks and limited upside at current valuations.

Among other names this week, J&J (JNJ) and UnitedHealth (UNH) report Tuesday, and Travelers (TRV) is due Friday.

And Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) reports Thursday in a key read for the AI chip complex.

Khaveen Investments, which has a Strong Buy on the stock, says it expects AI chip demand to remain very strong and “growth will depend on whether TSMC can raise enough capacity to fulfill this demand.”

On the economic front it’s all about the CPI, with Treasury yields pushing up to the highest levels in two decades.

Economists expect the September consumer price index to show a rise of 0.6%, taking the annual rate to 3.6%, with core prices up 0.2% and the yearly rate ticking up to 2.5%.

Wells Fargo’s macro team expects the report “to reinforce that underlying inflation pressures remain contained even as higher energy prices continue to push headline inflation around from month to month.”

Right now, fed funds futures are pricing in a Fed pause in October and a quarter-point rate hike in December.

In the news this weekend

President Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine have agreed to an immediate energy ceasefire, but provided no further details.

Expectations for oil price moves on prediction markets were initially little changed.

The White House has issued a mandate requiring all AI companies to report and correct security incidents after Anthropic (ANTHRO) reported a series of breaches involving one of its AI models, according to Axios.

The incidents, including one in which an Anthropic testing model submitted a series of non-immigrant visa applications in May and August, were discovered late last month, and they have ceased since then.

And Nvidia (NVDA) is holding discussions to acquire or increase its investment in Reflection AI, a U.S. startup focused on developing open-weight models, the Financial Times reported.

Talks between the companies are at an early stage, and a potential deal could take several forms, including an “acqui-hire,” which allows tech giants to hire staff and license technology while avoiding antitrust scrutiny associated with a full acquisition.

And for income investors, Accenture (ACN) goes ex-dividend on Tuesday, paying out on Nov. 13.

Micron (MU) goes ex-dividend Wednesday and pays out on Oct. 29.

Abbott (ABT) and AbbVie (ABBV) go ex-dividend on Thursday, and both have a Nov. 16 payout date.