Investors can expect plenty of market-moving headlines in the week ahead as President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese leader Xi Jinping , one of our long-term holdings delivers earnings, and Meta Platforms hosts its big annual conference. 1. Costco earnings: The big box retailer releases monthly sales, so the main things to focus on for its quarterly reports are profit, as well as membership growth and retention trends. The economic backdrop of higher inflation certainly favors Costco as shoppers seek the best bang for their buck. Costco’s club membership and bulk-selling model allow it to offer best-in-class value that is nearly unmatched. The Street is also on the watch for a “special dividend” announcement. As analysts at Bank of America noted in previewing the quarter, the last special dividend was paid in January 2024, and the company has historically distributed special dividends every 2 to 3 years. As a result, the analysts expect an announcement sometime over the next few quarters, estimating it could be worth roughly $22 per share. The Street is looking for earnings of $6.53 per share on sales of $94.8 billion when the numbers are out Thursday evening. 2. Meta’s big confab: The social media giant’s annual developer conference, Meta Connect, kicks off Wednesday, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg set to deliver his keynote at 7 p.m. ET. Artificial Intelligence is sure to be front and center. Expect more details on the advancements the company is making with its Muse Spark family of models and, more importantly, how it is applying that innovation to product offerings. We have been very impressed with the recently launched Muse agentic AI application and look forward to hearing early feedback and to learning about future plans. How the company is strengthening its family of apps — both in user engagement and in the tools it provides to developers — will also be of interest, as this is the primary near-term path to AI investment returns. Though less material in the near term, we’re also interested in seeing the company’s progress on its line of Ray-Ban smart glasses. In addition, we expect a preview of a new mixed-reality headset. 3. Trump-Xi summit: President Trump is expected to host Chinese President Xi in Washington on Thursday. We will be listening closely for any shift in diplomatic posture or trade concessions. Priority No. 1 for investors is an extension of the tariff truce — both leaders agreed not to impose or raise certain tariffs — which is set to expire on Nov. 10. In addition, we expect Trump to look for ways to narrow the trade deficit of roughly $91 billion through July . Aircraft purchases from Boeing are a recurring topic in U.S.-China trade discussions, and we hope to hear some good news this Club stock. Artificial intelligence is also expected to be a hot topic of discussion, as China looks to close the gap with U.S. companies. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang are among the tech leaders set to attend Trump’s state dinner for Xi. The meeting comes as the battle over AI regulation is heating up, following a plea by Anthropic’s Dario Amodei for a slowdown in frontier model development. While we support increased efforts to enhance safety and guardrails as increasingly advanced AI models are trained, we don’t believe a regulator-forced curb on progress is either realistic or desirable. Trump and Xi are likely to discuss the war in Iran, which is having a major impact on crude oil supplies for both nations. Prior to the blockade, nearly half of China’s crude oil imports came via the Strait of Hormuz. Any discussion of Taiwan, the island nation that’s critical to the global semiconductor supply chain — and which China claims sovereignty over — is also important to monitor. Week ahead Monday, Sept. 21 No events or data releases. Tuesday, Sept. 22 Before the bell: AutoZone (AZO), MillerKnoll (MLKN), Thor Industries (THO) After the bell: KB Home (KBH) Wednesday, Sept. 23 Before the bell: Cintas (CTAS), Paychex (PAYX), General Mills (GIS), Cracker Barrel (CBRL) After the bell: H.B. Fuller (FUL) Thursday, Sept. 24 Before the bell: TD SYNNEX (SNX), Darden Restaurants (DRI) After the bell: Costco Wholesale (COST) 8:30 am ET: Initial jobless claims 10:00 am ET: New home Sales Friday, Sept. 25 No events or data releases. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
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