Kim Kahn

As investors return from Thanksgiving with heavier waistlines and lighter wallets, shopping remains a key theme, with Salesforce and a slate of retail names reporting earnings.

Salesforce is expected to post EPS of $2.86 on revenue of $10.27 billion when it reports Wednesday.

Seeking Alpha analyst Luca Sacchi says the market is now fixated on whether growth can break a psychological threshold investors can't ignore.

AI has flipped the narrative, he says.

Instead of excitement, it's fueling doubts about CRM's moat and the long-term payoff of agent force.

But DM Insights points out that the stock trades at a historically low valuation, even below the S&P 500, and argues that its predictable model, AI tailwinds, and attractive risk-reward profile make it a buy.

Also on the earnings calendar, MongoDB reports Monday, CrowdStrike, Marvel, and GitLab issue numbers Tuesday.

Snowflake, Dollar Tree, and C3.ai weigh in on Wednesday with Salesforce.

Kroger, Ulta Beauty, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and Dollar General report Thursday.

Victoria's Secret is up Friday.

On the economic front, the week kicks off with Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell speaking at a panel discussion at Stanford.

But the Fed is in its blackout period, so expect him to stick to the topic of the economic legacy of George Shultz.

The markets are pricing in an 85% chance that the FOMC cuts by a quarter point on December 10th.

The odds are the highest since Powell's last press conference, which leaned hawkish.

There will be a mix of old and new economic data again.

Fed officials will get the core PCE inflation figures ahead of their decision.

The catch is those figures are from September.

Fed officials and traders might get better insight from the preliminary Michigan sentiment figures for December, especially expected conditions.

In the news this weekend, Adobe reported that consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 9.1% year-over-year and ahead of expectations.

Gaming console sales were strong.