Personal Income, Michigan Sentiment, Big Oil Earnings: 3 Things to Watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks diverged on Thursday, as the Dow was safeguarded from the downturn in tech stocks fueled by lower earnings and outlooks.

Tech companies are contending with a downturn in digital advertising and demand for products ranging from personal computers to cloud services after a huge pandemic surge in demand made for ugly comparisons. 

But there is some hope the Federal Reserve might start to ease back from its big interest rate hikes on data that shows things seem to be improving. Gross domestic product for the third quarter was stronger than expected, and positive rather than the contractions seen in the prior two quarters. On Friday, more data on inflation is expected. 

While the Fed is expected to raise rates another 0.75 percentage point when it meets next week, many analysts believe it could pause or raise rates at a smaller amount at its next meeting in December.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Personal income and spending

Data on personal income and spending come out at 8:30 ET (12:30 GMT). Analysts expect personal income to inch up 0.3%, while expectations are for personal spending to rise 0.4%.

2. Michigan sentiment

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment is due out at 10:00 ET. Analysts expect it to read 59.8, unchanged from the prior reading.

3. Big oil

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) are on deck for earnings. Exxon is expected to report EPS of $3.67 on revenue of $107.2 billion, while Chevron is expected to report EPS of $4.83 on revenue of $57 billion.