A busy week lies ahead on the US economic calendar, with Fed speeches, labor market data, and Nvidia earnings, while spot markets give up recent gains.
Crypto markets are tanking and have wiped out almost three weeks of gains, with losses accelerating over the weekend.
The week ahead has some key consumer sentiment reports amid rising US inflation and a number of Federal Reserve speeches under new leadership. Meanwhile, the war in Iran will mark its 80th day on Tuesday, and signs of a deal are still not forthcoming.
Economic Events May 18 to 22
The economic data kicks off on Tuesday with pending US house sales reports, followed by the ADP employment weekly change. These two shed more light on the housing and labor markets, which are key to economic stability.
Wednesday will have the Federal Open Markets Committee meeting minutes detailing the central bank’s last meeting in April and potentially offering insight into future decisions regarding interest rates.
Thursday has more real estate market data, May’s Philly Manufacturing Index, and jobless claims. May’s Michigan Consumer Sentiment and Expectations reports are due out on Friday.
Key Events This Week:
1. April Pending Home Sales data – Tuesday
2. Fed Meeting Minutes – Wednesday
3. Nvidia, $NVDA, Reports Earnings – Wednesday
4. May Philly Fed Manufacturing Index – Thursday
5. May UMich Consumer Sentiment data – Friday
6. May UMich Consumer…
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) May 17, 2026
Macroeconomic data aside, all eyes are likely to be on Nvidia’s earnings report on Wednesday, which has become a bellwether for the entire AI industry.
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CEO Jensen Huang doubled projections for the firm’s flagship chips, and company stock is up around 20% this year. TD Cowen analysts expect Nvidia to beat its quarterly revenue outlook by approximately $1 to $2 billion.
This could provide a boost for AI altcoins as the industry continues to expand. However, US President Trump told Iran on Sunday that the “clock is ticking” for making a deal, causing oil prices to spike to $108 a barrel and crypto markets to crash.
Crypto Market Outlook
Total capitalization has declined by around $130 billion over the weekend, falling to a three-week low of $2.64 trillion on Monday morning despite the Senate’s advancement of the Clarity Act last week.
Bitcoin led the losses, falling below $77,000 during Asian trading as it wiped out all gains made this month. The bigger picture shows that it is still consolidating and has been trading sideways since the beginning of February.
Ether prices shadowed big brother as usual, tanking 2.4% on the day and falling back to $2,100, its lowest level since April 7. Altcoin losses were relatively minor aside from Hyperliquid and Zcash, which continued to gain.
