'Triple whammy' will decide if Wall Street crashes within the next day
- Core Insights Advisory Services
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Date: November 19, 2025
Source: Daily Mail
America is entering one of the most crucial 24-hour periods for the US economy in years.
A triple whammy of key economic data began this evening with Nvidia, the world’s biggest company, revealing its sales are soaring and profits jumped 65 percent over the past three months. It means the first of three crucial tests has been passed.
Thursday morning, the second piece of the puzzle will come when Walmart reveals whether US consumers have finally cracked. As the world's largest retailer, it is a bellwether for how the ordinary American is doing.
Soon after, at 8.30am, a delayed jobs report will show whether layoffs have accelerated enough to push unemployment higher.
The timing of the triple whammy could not be worse. Stocks have been falling for the past week, tech giants have been hammered, and traders say markets are now gripped by what analysts are calling 'extreme fear.'
Big-name investors — from Warren Buffett to Masayoshi Son to Big Short legend Michael Burry — have been making defensive moves or predicting a crash.
Nvidia’s bumper earnings are a boost for confidence in AI and for Wall Street’s belief that the technology will keep driving corporate profits. Shares rose as much as five percent in after-hours trading, lifting the wider stock market.
But there are still two more tests to come in earnings from Walmart, the bellwether of retail in the US, and the jobs report.
What happens next will also carry political weight for President Donald Trump, who prides himself on the strength of Wall Street and the US economy — and comes he reels from the fallout over newly surfaced Epstein emails.
Below, we break down everything happening — and why the three key events could define the economy, the markets and the political climate through the end of the year.
Nvidia’s earnings could determine whether the AI boom survives
Nvidia — the world’s only $5 trillion company — smashed sales and profit targets when it reported after the bell Wednesday, in what analysts say may be the most important earnings release of the year.
The chipmaker has become the linchpin of the AI frenzy powering nearly half of the S&P 500’s gains.
But its stock had slid into correction territory ahead of the announcement, options traders were bracing for a 6.4 percent swing overnight, and Wall Street feared anything short of perfection could trigger a deeper rout.
That volatility reflects the mood inside Silicon Valley, where giants have plowed tens of billions into AI infrastructure even as doubts grow about whether the spending is sustainable.
'The angst around ‘peak AI’ has been palpable,' Julian Emanuel, chief equities strategist at Evercore ISI, said.
Recent weeks saw Peter Thiel’s macro hedge fund dump shares, Oracle plunge after increasing AI spending, and several AI-linked ETFs sink more than 8 percent.
The concern: AI revenues are rising, but so are costs. Meta, Oracle, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon spent a combined $106 billion on data-center infrastructure last quarter — a figure that has rattled investors.
Walmart’s results Thursday could confirm whether American shoppers are cracking
Just hours before the September jobs report, Walmart will release earnings that analysts say are every bit as important as Nvidia’s.
Target already slashed its forecast and warned of collapsing holiday demand, sending its stock sliding. If Walmart shows the same pattern — or even hints that low- and middle-income shoppers are pulling back — fears of a consumer downturn could explode.
With two-thirds of GDP driven by spending, retailers remain the clearest window into how real people are coping with inflation, debt and higher interest rates.
Walmart’s results will show whether shoppers are trading down, whether grocery is masking weakness in discretionary items and whether middle-class families have finally hit the wall
A weak number could tip the entire market lower — even if Nvidia hits its targets.
A delayed jobs report lands Thursday morning — with rate cuts hanging in the balance
After the longest government shutdown in US history blacked out federal data, the Labor Department will finally release the September jobs report Thursday morning.
The Fed is split on whether to cut rates next month. Slowing hiring could push policymakers toward easing; strong numbers could lock in higher borrowing costs for longer, hurting mortgages, car loans and credit-card debt.
Either way, the data lands at a delicate moment: Americans report some of the worst consumer sentiment in years despite stable unemployment.
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