ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: July 20-24

The week ahead is light on economic data. The entire week falls inside the Fed's blackout period ahead of the July 28-29 FOMC meeting, so there's no Fedspeak to parse before the committee revisits the current 3.50%-3.75% funds rate range. Odds are that the committee's statement will remain hawkish but postpone any rate hiking.

On the other hand, the earnings reporting season is jam-packed this week. And of course, the fireworks show has resumed in the latest Middle East conflict. One major downside of earnings is that they might only meet analysts' already high expectations. Another is that hyperscalers might scale back their guidance for capital spending (and/or returns from such spending), or announce unforeseen delays in building data centers.