Alex Karp's Palantir reports tonight and AMD on Tuesday, in a week that also brings the midterms and the October jobs report

Last week ended with the AI trade on the defensive. Intel's weak outlook triggered its worst day on record, the PHLX semiconductor index fell 7.2% on Friday, and the Nasdaq Composite closed out October with its biggest monthly loss since March 2025. This week hands investors several more verdicts on the AI boom, squeezed between a national election and a jobs report.

Palantir: tonight

Palantir, led by CEO Alex Karp, reports third-quarter results after Monday's close, with a conference call at 5 p.m. ET, according to TradingKey and MoverTape. Wall Street expects adjusted earnings of $0.41 a share, roughly double the $0.21 of a year earlier, TipRanks reported. Revenue estimates sit around $2.17 billion to $2.18 billion, slightly above the company's own guidance of $2.160 billion to $2.164 billion.

The bar is high. In the second quarter, Palantir's revenue jumped 93% from a year earlier to $1.935 billion, the fastest growth rate in its history, TipRanks and MoverTape noted. Investors will watch U.S. commercial revenue, the value of new contracts and the full-year outlook, according to TradingKey.

Palantir shares fell 6.27% on Friday to $184.11, according to Yahoo Finance data, caught in the broader sell-off in AI-related stocks.

AMD, Qualcomm and Arm

AMD reports after Tuesday's close. The company has guided revenue to "approximately $13 billion, plus or minus $300 million," which it says is about 41% more than a year earlier, according to MoverTape. Investors will focus on data center revenue and demand for its Instinct AI accelerators, TradingKey said.

The stock goes into the report bruised. AMD fell 10.9% on Friday to $504.80, according to Reuters and Yahoo Finance data, as Intel's guidance spread through the sector.

Qualcomm and Arm both report after Wednesday's close, TradingKey reported. Qualcomm's numbers will show how rising memory costs are affecting handset demand, and Arm's royalty model makes it sensitive to smartphone, PC and data center volumes alike.

Tuesday: the midterms

Voters go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to decide all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats, along with dozens of governorships, according to Newsquawk. Analysts quoted by Reuters said markets are likely to tread carefully into the vote, and oil traders are watching whether the outcome changes the course of the conflict with Iran. One strategist cited by Kalkine said a Democratic sweep could weigh on AI-related stocks; others see the result as one more source of uncertainty in an already volatile week.

Friday: the jobs report

The week's economic headliner is the October employment report on Friday. Payrolls rose just 29,000 in September, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%, Investing.com noted. Economists expect the unemployment rate to hold at 4.2%.

The data before it fills in the picture. September JOLTS job openings are due Tuesday, with forecasts around 7.1 million after 7.079 million, according to Briefing.com. ADP's private payrolls report and the ISM services index arrive Wednesday, and weekly jobless claims on Thursday. Several Fed officials are scheduled to speak during the week, after two of them argued on Friday that more rate hikes are needed.

Overseas, the Reserve Bank of Australia announces its rate decision on Tuesday and the Bank of England on Thursday.

Why this week matters

The common thread is cash. Investors spent last week asking whether the companies spending most heavily on AI will earn it back, and whether the chipmakers selling to them can hold their margins as memory costs rise. Palantir's results tonight and AMD's on Tuesday are the next two data points, and they arrive just as the election and the jobs report add their own uncertainty to an already jumpy market.