Lewis Krauskopf

Troubling updates from Oracle and Broadcom are reigniting concerns about an AI bubble.

Wall St Week Ahead: Investors on watch for AI, economic updates as US stocks steady

With U.S. stocks in the midst of a grim month, investors will look in the coming week for signs of strength in the U.S. consumer with Black Friday putting the spotlight on the holiday shopping season.

Stock market investors are preparing for a turbulent year-end sparked by uncertainty over near-term Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and mounting worries that artificial intelligence companies, which have propelled the market to new records this year, are overvalued.

Nvidia's strong earnings report offered only a brief reprieve for stocks on Thursday, as doubts about the return on relentless artificial intelligence investment and lofty valuations on Wall Street had global markets on edge.

The biggest U.S. stocks pullback in months is fraying investors' nerves ahead of tests to two underpinnings of the market's record-breaking rally: the artificial intelligence trade and expectations for interest rate cuts.

Turbulence in technology stocks could ratchet higher in the coming week as investors react to the quarterly report from Nvidia Corp , the world's largest company by market value that is at the heart of Wall Street's artificial intelligence trade.

The U.S. shutdown has ended but the hangover is just beginning for investors, who worry gaps in economic data will delay or even derail Federal Reserve rate cuts just as concerns over lofty AI stock valuations have put fresh pressure on companies' stocks and bonds.

With an end to the U.S. government shutdown potentially on the horizon, investors who feared more economic fallout breathed easier and turned to an expected flood of delayed data to shed more light on growth and the likely path for interest rates.

Investors will seek clues about the health of the U.S. economy in the coming week following worrisome labor market reports and technology-led turbulence that has knocked the stock market off record highs.