4th quarter watching with Conagra, Constellation Brands and Levi's earnings

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The fourth quarter for the stock market could be as cold as the third quarter — after all, what is there to be excited about at the moment?

The affordability of housing is rapidly declining. The Federal ReserveFederal Reserve is not helping. Big tech names such as Meta are doing hiring freezes. Before the holidays, industrial giants like Fedex are canning people. The heads of battered investors were warned by VF Corp. and Nike. Apple is reportedly cutting iPhone production.

Here are a few things I am watching with the fourth quarter officially underway, given this backdrop.

Consumer Earnings: This week will bring results from Conagra, Constellation Brands, McCormick and Levi's. These reports will give consumers a much-needed insight into the mindset of a consumer who is still being hurt by inflation and is seeing their 401 ks shredded. How is Constellation's Corona brand doing with restaurant traffic showing mixed trends of late? Will Levi's - a rare retail winner in 2022, follow VF Corp. and Nike by warning about the holidays? I think all of these reports could be mixed and inject the latest dose of fear into an already nervous market.

Market Action: With markets down a lot, pay attention to how stocks react to bad news. It was interesting that the shares of chipmaker Micron went up on the day after it issued sales guidance almost $2 billion less than consensus forecasts. If we get more reactions like this, it would be good to consider considering a short-term bottom in the markets. It is worth it to think about this front: The forward price-earnings ratio for the S&P 500 is 15.4 times, below the five-year average of 18.6 times and below the 10 year average of 17.1 times, according to FactSet.

5 other events to watch for: 1 Who is the first Fed member to signal a pause in rate hikes? Would be bullish 2 Does Friday's jobs report blow away estimates? Why is UPS not making any predictions about earnings like the FedEx? It wouldn't be good 4 Do investors brush aside third-quarter earnings reports that are severely hurt by the rising U.S. dollar? What is the outlook around 2023 business opportunities when discussed at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on October 17? If so, how can that be a big profit boost for the rest of 2022?

ET: ISM New Orders, September 50.5 expected, September 51.3 expected, during the previous month Nike stock plunged as investors trip over all that inventory.

10 companies are at risk due to the Apple iPhone slowdown.

Don't try to be a hero: The stock market will roar back eventually, history shows.''