Chapter 1: What impact might Kevin Warsh's Fed nomination have on the jobs report?
Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Brunch, our Sunday look-ahead to this week's market-moving events, along with the weekend's top news and analysis.
Hello, today is Sunday, February 1st, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn. This week brings another dose of the mega and the macro. More mega-cap earnings arrive alongside the January jobs report. Economists spec non-farm payrolls rose by 68,000 last month, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.4%. But this time the job numbers come with a twist.
Chapter 2: How are Amazon and Alphabet's earnings affecting AI demand?
The actual figures may play second fiddle to what new FedShare nominee Kevin Warsh has to say about them. If payrolls come in hotter than expected, does he still stick to the White House script that rates need to come down? Seeking alpha analyst Hawk Invest says the labor market could deteriorate rapidly from here, with AI giving companies an option to increase layoffs and forego new hires.
They add that if the job market continues to soften, it could ease inflation pressures through 2026 and give the Fed more room to cut than some policymakers currently expect. Turning to the earnings calendar, two more mega caps are up this week, Alphabet reports Wednesday and Amazon reports Thursday.
Amazon is expected to post EPS of $1.94 on revenue of $211 billion or so, and analysts are leaning toward the upside surprise.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of Bitcoin dipping below $80K?
Seeking off analyst Neville Capital says AWS capacity additions, including more than a gigawatt in Q4, could help convert backlog into revenue, as AI infrastructure demand continues to outpace supply across regions.
Neville also points to Amazon's recent layoffs, roughly 10% of its corporate workforce, as another potential tailwind as the company shifts from high-cost labor toward AI-driven agents and machine learning models. That theme is still echoing across big tech. Beyond the mega caps, it's a packed week. Monday brings results from Palantir, a seeking off a favorite, and Walt Disney.
Tuesday is busy with AMD, Merck, PepsiCo, Amgen, and Pfizer.
Chapter 4: What are the major earnings reports to watch this week?
Wednesday has Eli Lilly, AbbVie, Uber, and Qualcomm. Shell reports Thursday, and Friday wraps with Toyota and Philip Morris. In the news this weekend, Bitcoin slipped below $80,000, the lowest level since April 2025, marking its fourth straight monthly drop.
The total crypto market is down about 4%, below $2.8 trillion, while Bitcoin has slipped behind Tesla to become the world's 12th largest asset by market cap, according to CoinGecko. But with a strong buy rating, Seeking Alpha investing group leader James Ford remains bullish. Ultimately, I think we could very well see rotation into Bitcoin, he said.
It's happened before, there are fundamental reasons to support this, and technicals also line up. And for income investors, Citigroup goes ex-dividend Monday, paying out February 27th. MetLife goes ex-dividend Tuesday, with a March 10th payout date. And Valera goes ex-dividend on Thursday, paying out March 9th.
Chapter 5: How do upcoming dividends affect income investors?
That's all for today's Wall Street Brunch. Look for links to stories in the show notes section. Don't forget, these episodes will be up with transcriptions at seekingalpha.com slash WSB. And join the elite community of real investors to unearth great investing ideas. Just head to seekingalpha.com slash subscriptions.