Santoli on Nasdaq's blistering run | Miserable earnings ahead | Trump commutes Stone's sentence

Investors will get a look at the pandemic's financial damage as earnings season begins next week.

VIEW IN BROWSER | SUBSCRIBE SAT, JUL 11, 2020 WEEKEND BRIEF EDITOR'S NOTE Next week marks the beginning of what's widely anticipated to be the worst earnings season in 12 years.   CNBC's Patti Domm writes that earnings are expected to fall 44% for the second quarter, but long-forewarned investors might just shake off the bad news. In some cases, earnings might be absolutely horrible, but not quite as horrible as expected - which could drive stocks higher.   "People don't care about the numbers," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment strategist at Bleakley Adivsory Group. "They want to hear what the companies have to say."   Investors will be focused on how companies plan to navigate the hazards ahead with a growing pandemic and jarring rollbacks of reopening plans across the nation. They'll also want justifications from Big Tech companies with stocks at all time highs.   In this edition of Weekend Brief, CNBC's senior markets commentator Michael Santoli offers an analysis of this divided market.   "There's the blistering Nasdaq, with its unassailable technology gatekeepers and a combustible frenzy in Tesla stealing much of the market's oxygen," Santoli writes. "Then there's the chill enveloping smaller stocks, vestiges of the physical consumer economy and legacy financial institutions."   And CNBC's Michael Bloom identifies stocks that analysts say will be buys before their earnings are released.   Few companies have given investors earnings guidance in the middle of one of the most uncertain periods in recent financial history, so there are bound to be surprises.   "U.S. companies are about to give us a look into their worst quarter since the Great Financial Crisis," said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. "Increasing coronavirus cases, management outlooks, and price performance could all have an outsized impact, and that could lead to outsized market moves."   Thanks for reading Weekend Brief.  Email your thoughts to EveningBrief@nbcuni.com or follow me on Twitter @tellittoal.   Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world. Al Lewis | CNBC Markets Editor @tellittoal MICHAEL SANTOLI'S MARKET COLUMN Nasdaq stocks led by Tesla continue their blistering run while chill envelops rest of the market   THE WEEK AHEAD Market heads into worst earnings season in 12 years amid worries virus is slowing recovery   ACTIVIST SPOTLIGHT A textbook Wall Street activism play is unfolding with underperforming software company Virtusa   YOUR WEEKEND BRIEFING  President Donald Trump commutes ally Roger Stone's prison sentence Coronavirus deaths tick up in Florida, Texas, California, Arizona as states grapple with growing outbreaks Analysts believe stocks like Netflix and Keurig Dr Pepper are buys heading into earnings season Georgia governor reopens coronavirus field hospital at Atlanta convention center Charles Barkley: Sports are turning social justice issues into a 'circus' As dividends dry up amid the pandemic, here are some sustainable income stocks from Evercore ISI     Unsubscribe Manage Newsletters Terms of Service Join the CNBC Panel Digital Products Feedback Privacy Policy   © 2020 CNBC LLC. All rights reserved. A property of NBCUniversal. 900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes and Market Data and Analysis. Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS