US Equity Investors to Focus on Earnings, DoJ Probe into Fed, Potential Supreme Court Tariffs Ruling This Week

05:56 AM EST, 01/12/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity investors will focus on earnings, the "threat of criminal charges" against the Federal Reserve, consumer price inflation, and the possibility of a Supreme Court ruling on tariffs this week.

* Financial sector heavyweights will kick off Q4 earnings season in right earnest, with results expected from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) , Bank of America (BAC) , Wells Fargo (WFC) , Citigroup (C) , Morgan Stanley (MS), and Goldman Sachs (GS) . Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) is also reporting this week.

* The Federal Reserve released a statement from Fed Chair Jerome Powell Sunday evening responding to a Department of Justice probe over renovations to the Fed's headquarters in Washington, DC.

* "This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings," Powell said. "It is not about Congress's oversight role; the Fed, through testimony and other public disclosures, made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President."

* Early Monday, gold and silver futures hit new all-time highs, and the US Dollar Index fell, reflecting market concerns over the Fed's independence.

* The readings from consumer and wholesale price indexes this week will be the last before the Jan. 28 Fed monetary policy meeting.

* The Supreme Court has set Wednesday for its next opinion day, with argument days also scheduled from Monday to Wednesday, according to a Friday note from Scotiabank.

* "Markets would be surprised if SCOTUS did not reject use of IEEPA tariffs, but how, under what terms, including potential reimbursement, and how Trump would respond with other measures are all highly uncertain," Derek Holt, head of capital market economics, said in the note.

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