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Stock Market Action Plan: Fed Meeting, Nvidia AI Conference

March 14, 2025

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The stock market rebounded off lows on its way to the Ides of March, but still left both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 further below key technical support in a fourth straight week of declines. Among stocks, a handful of potential leaders may be sending early signals from within the confusion caused by constantly changing and unclear trade and regulatory policies. But until a follow-through day launches another stock market rally attempt, investors should build watchlists of strong growth stocks shaping constructive chart patterns.

The coming week is likely to revolve around the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting and news out of Nvidia‘s (NVDA) GTC Conference. Earnings aren’t likely to be a highlight, although Nike (NKE), FedEx (FDX) and a handful of healthy China-based stocks report. Housing and real estate markets get updates from several different angles as Lennar (LEN) reports earnings, and a number of key data reports are due.

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Stocks To Watch: Time To Window Shop Stocks

The stock market has tumbled into a volatile correction. That means it’s time to be mostly or entirely in cash. But investors should look for stocks showing relative strength. AngloGold Ashanti (AU), Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB), Ryan Specialty (RYAN), GE Aerospace (GE) and EverQuote (EVER) are holding up relatively well or even advancing. AngloGold is in a buy zone, as gold and silver stocks shine along with the underlying metals. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire also is in a buy area, as the insurance-led conglomerate boasts a massive cash hoard. Ryan Specialty and EverQuote are two insurance plays setting up. GE Aerospace is testing technical support, and already up 19% this year.

Economic Calendar: The Wait For ‘Greater Clarity’

The big question for the coming week is if the Federal Reserve will act after the first clear sign the job market is softening, or will policymakers wait to see the scale of GOP tax-cut legislation. Along with its policy update on Wednesday, the Fed will release new quarterly projections for interest rates, unemployment and inflation in 2025 and beyond. Markets currently expect the Fed to wait until June to cut rates again, with just 31% odds of a cut in May. On March 7, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the economy was strong and the Fed was “well positioned to wait for greater clarity” on the Trump agenda before acting. February retail sales data is due Monday.

Artificial Intelligence: Nvidia’s Premier AI Confab

After the past week’s healthy rebound, AI-chip maker Nvidia will hold its semiannual GTC conference March 17-21 in San Jose, Calif. Nvidia touts the show as “the world’s premier AI conference.” CEO Jensen Huang will give a keynote speech at GTC on Tuesday. He plans to discuss what’s next in agentic AI, robotics and accelerated computing. Analysts expect Nvidia to unveil its GB300 AI chip at the show. That chip could start shipping in May. GTC 2025 will feature over 1,000 sessions, 2,000 speakers and nearly 400 exhibitors, focused on the future of artificial intelligence. This year’s GTC will feature a day devoted to quantum computing. Quantum Day is taking place on Thursday.

Nike: A Bellwether For Supply Chains And Retail Inventories

Despite the hope that arrived along with a new CEO, things really haven’t looked good for Nike in awhile. But it retains the ability to surprise, and it remains a bellwether for global supply chain and inventory trends. A UBS note on Monday said Nike’s global sales growth deteriorated over the last three months, and fiscal ’26 views could be “meaningfully below expectations.” Nike shares have been mostly in a downtrend since October 2021.

China Earnings: Tracking China’s Advance

PDD Holdings (PDD), parent company of e-commerce firm Pinduoduo and global retailer Temu, reports Q4 earnings Thursday. It has been a good earnings season for Chinese e-commerce players. Both Alibaba Group (BABA) and JD.com (JD) posted revenue beats. PDD stock slumped late last year amid growing competition. The U.S./China trade war is raising concerns about Temu. Analysts are looking for PDD sales to grow 29% for Q4, down from 43% and 90% growth in the previous two quarters. WeChat parent company Tencent (TCEHY), meanwhile, reports early Wednesday. Tencent’s U.S. shares have gained 24% this year amid a broader rally for Chinese tech stocks. Other China earnings to watch are e-commerce player Baozun (BZUN) and H World Group (HTHT) hotels.

FedEx: Targets Point To A Strong Year

Struggle though it may, analysts remain optimistic about FedEx. Deutsche Bank launched coverage March 7 with a buy rating and a 337 price target, a 40% jump. JPMorgan lowered its target to 323 early in March but kept an overweight rating. No substantial news is expected on the planned spinout of FedEx Freight. FedEx stock fell below 200-day support after its fiscal Q2 report in December. It is now fighting to hold lows from last July.

Lennar: A Homebuilding Status Report

Lennar, the second largest national homebuilder by market capitalization, reports fiscal first-quarter results on Friday. Analyst expectations are low, but market outlook and comments on interest rates — particularly following Wednesday’s Fed news conference — will be of central interest. In addition, housing starts, existing home sales and builders sentiment data from the National Association Of Homebuilders are also due during the week.

Stock Market Earnings Briefs

Micron Technology (MU) will release its fiscal second-quarter results late Thursday. Analysts expect the memory-chip maker to earn an adjusted $1.43 a share on sales of $7.9 billion. In the year-earlier period, Micron earned an adjusted 42 cents a share on sales of $5.82 billion.

Darden Restaurants (DRI) reports early Thursday. Analysts expect the casual restaurant chain to deliver a 7% EPS increase on an 8% revenue gain, with same-store sales up 2%. Olive Garden, Darden’s flagship brand, returned to same-store sales growth in the November-ended quarter after three down quarters, with further growth seen ahead. After a four month advance, March losses erased the stock’s year-to-date gain.

Carnival Corp. (CCL) reports Q1 results early Friday. FactSet expects the cruise line to report earnings of 2 cents per share, improving from a loss of 14 cents per share last year. Revenue is expected to increase 6.3% to $5.747 billion.

XPeng (XPEV) on Tuesday leads a handful of reports from China EV startups. Zeekr (ZK) follows early Thursday and Nio (NIO) early Friday. Analysts expect steady losses from XPeng while revenue jumps 23% to a record $2.2 billion. Nio is likely to narrow losses and Zeekr to sharply narrow losses, amid robust sales gains for both. XPeng stock pegged fresh highs. Nio shares tried to rebound from near five-year lows.

Jabil Circuits (JBL) rewound to its 200-day moving average ahead of its fiscal Q2 report on Thursday. After the $2.2 billion sale of its mobility unit last year, analysts expect losses to accelerate, and revenue declines to slow to 5%, ahead of upturns on both lines for the remainder of the year. That puts a spotlight on management’s outlook, and the impact of tariffs is bound to be a central topic.