In Focus This Week: Israel Aid, Powell Speech, Uber, Disney Earnings

Tuesday marks one month since the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. In the U.S., lawmakers will continue debating an aid package to Israel as the Senate and the White House rejected the bill approved by the House of Representatives last week.

The Republican-led House passed $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, but the bill, championed by Speaker Mike Johnson, is opposed by Democrats because it includes the same amount in cuts to the IRS.

Senator and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of New York, said the chamber will work on its own bipartisan bill containing aid for Israel, Ukraine and humanitarian support to Gaza.

Congress is also expected to resume discussions of government funding.

The stopgap measure that averted a government shutdown in October expires Nov. 17. Speaker Johnson told reporters last week that there's recognition among lawmakers that another short-term bill through Jan. 15 is the most likely solution.

Economy

In a week without releases of major economic data, the focus will be on comments by Federal Reserve officials.

Chair Jerome Powell will give opening remarks at an event in Washington Wednesday morning. Other voting and non-voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee will speak at public events throughout the week.

The Fed maintained U.S. interest rates unchanged last week. Investors will be looking for signals of how policymakers are interpreting the latest data on the economy.

On Friday, the Labor Department said that the economy sharply reduced the pace of job creation in October and the unemployment rate rose to the highest level in almost two years, signaling a slowdown in the job market.

Earnings

More than 400 members of the S&P 500 have already released their quarterly results. As of Friday, about 81% have beaten analysts' estimates, Reuters reported, citing LSEG data.

The week still has some big names scheduled, including Uber and eBay on Tuesday, Biogen and Walt Disney on Wednesday, News Corp and Krispy Kreme on Thursday.

In Europe, companies reporting earnings include big banks UBS on Tuesday, Commerzbank and ABN Amro on Wednesday, and insurance giant Allianz.

Politics

Tuesday is an off-cycle election day in the U.S. Voters will cast their ballots in governor races in Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi. There will also be legislative elections in some states. Ohio will vote on abortion and the legalization of Marijuana.

But the main event is the third debate among Republican primary presidential candidates in Miami, on Wednesday.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott are expected to participate. Former Vice-President Mike Pence dropped out of the race.

Former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate in the polls, is again skipping the debate and will instead hold a rally in Hialeah, Florida.

The two-hour debate, hosted by NBC News, will start at 8 p.m. ET.

Trump Trial

The former president is expected to testify Monday in court at the $250 million civil fraud trial against the Trump family and their company.

New York Attorney General Letitia James argues that they created a scheme to illegally inflate their assets in order to secure favorable loans and insurance policies.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump took the stand last week. Ivanka Trump is scheduled to testify on Wednesday.