Nvidia, Salesforce and Costco Earnings: AI Demand, Consumer Signals and What Traders Are Watching

Three high-bar earnings prints land in six trading sessions.. Nvidia reports first-quarter fiscal 2027 results after the US close today, Wednesday 20 May 2026, with Wall Street consensus near $78.8 billion in revenue and $1.77 non-GAAP earnings per share. After a holiday-shortened week, Salesforce reports on Wednesday 27 May and Costco on Thursday 28 May. The S&P 500 closed Tuesday at 7,353.61, around 1.97% below its 14 May record close of 7,501.24.

TL;DR

• Nvidia reports tonight; consensus near $78.8B revenue and $1.77 EPS, on guidance of $78B plus or minus 2%

• Salesforce Q1 FY27 on 27 May is the AI-software demand read

• Costco Q3 FY26 on 28 May is the cleanest post-CPI consumer read

• April CPI rose 3.8% YoY, the highest since May 2023

• 30-year US Treasury yield hit 5.185% Tuesday 19 May, the highest since 2007

Options markets expect to be also impacted by the Nvidia print.

Nvidia Q1 FY27 Earnings Preview: Data Centre Revenue and Margins in Focus

Data Centre revenue is the single line that moves the stock. Consensus sits near $73 billion for the segment against last quarter's data centre revenue of $62.3 billion, while total Q4 revenue of $68.1 billion rose 73% year on year. Gross margin direction matters as much as the headline beat. Company guide is 75% plus or minus 50 basis points; above 75% confirms Blackwell pricing power as it scales, below 73% signals pressure. Watch for GB300 Ultra shipment timing, Vera Rubin sampling progress, and any update on China H20 licensing. Hyperscaler 2026 capex guided above $700 billion sits behind the demand picture.

Salesforce Q1 FY27 Earnings: Agentforce ARR and AI Software Demand

Salesforce closed Tuesday at $179.42, near its 52-week low of $163.52 and well below the 52-week high of $289.90. Company guidance for Q1 FY27 is revenue of $11.03 billion to $11.08 billion, up 12% to 13% year on year, with full-year FY27 revenue guided to $45.8 billion to $46.2 billion. A $25 billion buyback was authorised in February. The AI test is Agentforce, which exited Q4 FY26 at around $800 million in annual recurring revenue across roughly 29,000 deals in its first 15 months. Traders may want to watch Agentforce ARR progression, Data Cloud commentary, current remaining performance obligation growth, and gross margin trajectory. FY27 introduces a new revenue reporting structure that breaks out AI-related revenue. (Source: Macrotrends)

Costco Q3 FY26 Earnings: Post-CPI Consumer Check and What to Watch

Costco reports Q3 FY26 after the close on Thursday 28 May. According to the consensus estimates, the company is expected to report $4.97 of EPS, and $62 bln-$64 bln in revenue, improving y-o-y from $4.28 in EPS and $63.21 billion in revenue. The earnings print comes out about a month after April CPI surged 3.8% y-o-y, or the highest annual increase since May 2023, with the energy index rising 3.8% m-o-m. In Q2 FY26 Costco posted comparable sales growth of 7.4% (6.7% ex gas and FX). Several points are worth monitoring, including traffic, average transaction amount, gross margin and membership renewals, as it will become apparent quickly enough whether the recent jump in CPI is translating into cost at the retailers’ checkout counters or if they are able to continue to absorb the higher prices. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Cross-Asset Context: Treasuries, Crude Oil and Risk Sentiment

A clean print in Nvidia could stabilize the AI infrastructure names such as Broadcom, AMD and Micron as well as the software-leveraged names such as Oracle off of the same demand signal. USD/JPY is primarily a rate-differential trade but can be very sensitive to risk around the major US tech catalysts. AUD/USD is generally a proxy for risk appetite, and Bitcoin has sometimes been correlated with the Nasdaq Composite, but the correlation has been variable in 2026.

The 30-year US Treasury yield closed near 5.18% on Tuesday 19 May, its highest level since July 2007, with intraday prints above 5.19%. Kevin Warsh, nominated to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair, had his Senate confirmation hearing in April. Brent crude settled at $111.28 on Tuesday with the Strait of Hormuz still functionally closed and shipping flows well below normal.

Conclusion

NVIDIA set the AI infrastructure tape tonight, with a focus on Data Centre revenue and margin. Salesforce, meanwhile, looks to test the AI software monetisation model this week, with a print of Agentforce growth set for Wednesday. Retail, meanwhile, looks to test the post-CPI consumer this week, with Costco releasing the Q3 FY26 print of comparable sales, ticket size and margin for the big-box retailer on Thursday.

*Past performance does not guarantee future results. The above is for marketing and general informational purposes only, and are only projections and should not be taken as investment research, investment advice or a personal recommendation.