2026-08-29

Week Ahead: Dell, Palo Alto Networks and Broadcom Report on Back-to-Back Days as August Jobs Report Looms With Rate-Hike Odds at 57%

Written & reviewed by the TradeSmrt editorial team · 2026-08-29

In this article

What Happened
Why This Particular Week Carries So Much Weight
What to Take Away From This
FAQ
Sources

What Happened

U.S. stocks closed out August on a subdued note Friday as markets digested Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish Jackson Hole keynote. The S&P 500 slipped 0.25% to 7,711.76, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.52% to 26,402.42, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed just 9.45 points (0.02%) to close at 53,559.99 - a nearly flat session that masked a much bigger shift underneath. In the wake of Warsh's remarks, CME FedWatch data showed the probability of a rate hike at the September 16-17 FOMC meeting jumping to roughly 57%, turning what had been a fairly settled "no change" expectation into a genuine coin flip heading into the new month.

That knife-edge backdrop is exactly what the first week of September inherits. Labor Day falls on Monday, September 7 this year, so it doesn't interrupt this particular trading week - but four straight days, Tuesday through Friday, are stacked with market-moving events regardless. Tuesday, September 1 opens with the ISM Manufacturing PMI for August at 10:00 a.m. ET, alongside the JOLTS job openings survey and July construction spending data. After the close that same day, Dell Technologies (DELL) and Palo Alto Networks (PANW) both report earnings - Dell for its fiscal 2027 second quarter, Palo Alto Networks for its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter and full year. Wednesday, September 2 brings Broadcom's (AVGO) fiscal third-quarter results after the close, alongside reports from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and NetApp (NTAP). Lululemon (LULU) reports Thursday, September 3 after the close. And the week's centerpiece lands Friday, September 4 at 8:30 a.m. ET: the August jobs report.

Why This Particular Week Carries So Much Weight

The reason this week feels heavier than a typical earnings-and-data week is that the two threads - corporate results and the labor market - are positioned to amplify each other rather than sit side by side independently. Start with earnings: Dell and Broadcom are both squarely positioned as beneficiaries of the ongoing AI infrastructure buildout. Consensus estimates call for Dell to post earnings per share of $4.92, a 112% jump from the $2.32 it reported in the same quarter a year ago - a number that will live or die on whether AI server demand is translating into real margin expansion rather than just top-line growth. Broadcom, for its part, carries consensus estimates near $29.4 billion in revenue and roughly $3.24 in non-GAAP EPS, with the market's real focus on whether its AI-related custom silicon (ASIC) order backlog once again beats expectations. Because the two companies report on consecutive days, a disappointing guide from either one has room to spill into how investors price the other - and, more broadly, into sentiment around AI-linked valuations as a group.

Palo Alto Networks sits in a different kind of spotlight. The company has already guided fiscal fourth-quarter revenue to a range of $3.345 billion to $3.355 billion (32% year-over-year growth) with non-GAAP EPS of $0.96 to $0.98. The complication is valuation: PANW's price-to-earnings ratio has climbed to roughly 173x, even as Benchmark raised its price target to $400 (from $340, maintaining Buy) and BMO Capital lifted its target to $415 (from $335, Outperform) heading into the print. When a stock is already trading at a rich multiple and sell-side targets have been marked up in anticipation of a strong quarter, simply matching guidance is rarely enough to hold the stock steady - the market tends to demand a clear, unambiguous beat, and anything that reads as merely in-line risks triggering profit-taking rather than a rally.

The jobs report carries extra weight this time because of what happened last month. When the July jobs report was released on August 7, it delivered a genuine shock: nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000, versus a Dow Jones consensus forecast for an increase of 83,000 - one of the more jarring misses of the year. A drop of 53,000 government jobs did much of the damage, compounded by softness in retail, leisure and hospitality, and slower-than-usual healthcare hiring. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, but largely because labor force participation itself declined rather than because more people found work - a detail that limited how reassuring the lower headline rate could be read. For August, a Reuters poll points to roughly 58,000 jobs added with unemployment holding at 4.1%. The timing is what makes this release unusually consequential: it lands just two weeks before the September FOMC meeting and directly after Warsh staked out inflation control as the Fed's top priority. Another significant miss would set up a direct tension between "inflation is the priority" and "the labor market is cracking," which would likely add uncertainty to the September decision rather than resolve it. A number that meets or beats the Reuters estimate, on the other hand, would tend to reinforce the case Warsh has been building.

Zoom out and the market is sitting in a genuinely paradoxical spot. According to LSEG IBES data, S&P 500 companies are on pace to post roughly 34.5% year-over-year earnings growth for the second quarter, and the index itself has been trading near record territory. At the same time, rate-hike odds sit at a coin flip. That combination - strong corporate results shadowed by real monetary-policy uncertainty - is precisely why a week that concentrates both earnings and labor data into four trading days carries more potential for volatility than either category would on its own.

What to Take Away From This

When companies in the same sector report on consecutive days, the first report can reset expectations for the second. Dell (Tuesday) and Broadcom (Wednesday) are both viewed as AI infrastructure plays, so a disappointing Dell guide has room to lower the bar - or raise anxiety - heading into Broadcom's print the very next day.
A high valuation raises the bar from "beat consensus" to "beat convincingly." With Palo Alto Networks trading near a 173x P/E and price targets already marked up ahead of earnings, an in-line quarter carries real risk of a sell-the-news reaction, even if the underlying numbers look solid on paper.
The size of the market reaction to a data release often depends on how the previous release behaved. Because July's jobs report missed so badly, August's report carries a higher potential for outsized market movement than a typical monthly print - checking how a prior data point surprised the market is a useful habit before the next one lands.
When policy uncertainty sits near a coin flip, knowing the calendar in advance is itself a form of risk management. Mapping out which data points arrive when, and what each one could mean for rate expectations, reduces the odds of being blindsided by a single headline.

FAQ

Which earnings report matters more for the broader market - Dell or Broadcom?

It's hard to call definitively since both are tied to AI infrastructure spending, but Broadcom tends to draw more market attention given its larger revenue base (consensus near $29.4 billion) and the closely watched size of its AI custom-silicon order backlog. That said, since Dell reports first on Tuesday, its guidance commentary could shape how investors approach Broadcom's Wednesday print.

If the August jobs report comes in weak, does that mean the Fed is less likely to hike in September?

That's the more conventional reading, but it isn't guaranteed here. Warsh explicitly characterized the labor market as broadly consistent with full employment in his Jackson Hole remarks and placed more emphasis on inflation, so a single weak jobs number may not immediately shift the Fed's posture. If inflation data (the next CPI report) and labor data end up sending conflicting signals, uncertainty around the September decision could actually increase rather than resolve.

Does Labor Day affect trading this particular week?

No - Labor Day 2026 falls on Monday, September 7, so it doesn't touch the September 1-4 trading days covered here. It's still worth keeping in mind that the market will be closed the following Monday, which could compress or distort how markets digest the jobs report and any earnings follow-through heading into a shortened week.

Sources

This article is an original synthesis and analysis based on the reporting below, not a reproduction of the original articles. Please check the source articles directly for the most current figures and details.

⚠️ This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Market conditions change constantly - always verify the latest data before making investment decisions.