John Deere in the headlights… Deere is expected to report on Friday, and the tractor titan hopes to reap the benefits of a heavy equipment boom that netted competitor Caterpillar a 26% profit bump. Deere’s recent moves suggest it’s aiming to be the Apple of agriculture. It’s leaning into software to release techy, self-driving machinery and investing in a satellite network to help connect advanced equipment in remote areas of the US and Brazil. By the end of the decade, Deere wants 10% of its revenue to come from software fees.
Bananas > blenders… Big box behemoths Walmart and Target are set to report, and the retail picture’s jumbled. Consumers have been cutting back on big-ticket items like TVs, clothes, and blenders, which typically have higher margins. At the same time, Walmart benefited as discount seekers turned to the value seller for groceries and other essentials. But when they last reported, both retailers gave tepid annual forecasts as Americans cut back on discretionary spending. We’ll see later this week if cooling inflation has shaken up those forecasts.