On today's episode of Catalysts, Hosts Seana Smith and Madison Mills discuss the "Magnificent Seven" earnings ahead and break down some of the biggest stories of the trading week.

Laffer Tengler Investments CEO & chief investment officer Nancy Tengler shares her perspective on Big Tech's role in the current market. She tells Yahoo Finance, "When you look at the reliable earnings growers, these companies check all the boxes. And if you're worried about a slowing economy, I'd much rather own these companies than traditional defensives. I think big technology are the new defensives."

Mark Mahaney, Evercore ISI senior managing director and head of internet research, lays out three areas investors should watch in Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) earnings. Mahaney believes that the top factor in Alphabet's results "starts with search and it probably ends with search." After search, he says that the second area to watch in Alphabet earnings is YouTube, as it experienced some softness during the second quarter, and the third area is Google Cloud as cloud companies are expected to see accelerating revenue growth in the second half of the year.

Apple (AAPL) is set to report quarterly earnings on Thursday, October 31. IDC research director Ramon T. Llamas notes that “We're still very much in the early innings of the iPhone 16." He argues, “There's a lot of things going on with the iPhone 16 that makes it really wonderful. I mean, one of the things is the camera, a lot of it is the interface. But you got to also realize that people are taking their time replacing their phones longer than they used to.” The lengthening upgrade cycle has contributed to concerns around demand.

Nvidia (NVDA) is set to report third quarter earnings for the fiscal 2025 on Wednesday, November 20. Goldman Sachs managing director Toshiya Hari highlights two things that he’s keeping in mind heading into the earnings results: the demand environment around Nvidia’s products and Nvidia’s strength beyond AI training in inferencing that support the chipmaker's growth is strong and sustainable.

The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index reached a six-month high in October, posting a reading of 70.5 and surpassing economists' expectations of 69.0.

McDonald's (MCD) pulled its Quarter Pounder off menus in select states in connection to an E. coli outbreak that could be linked to its slivered onions and beef patties. In response, several fast food restaurant chains have removed onions from their menus to prevent potential contamination. Yum! Brands (YUM), the parent company of Taco Bell and KFC, along with Restaurant Brands International (QSR), which owns Burger King, are removing onions from select locations "out of an abundance of caution."