Earnings season — the two weeks after each quarter ends, when companies share how much money they made or lost — started last week. It’s when investors get a glimpse of how individual firms are holding up — as well as a big-picture view across entire industries (which can lead to major stock price movements). This season, the folks who make predictions about company earnings (they’re called analysts) have issued a flurry of downgrades — when one of those analysts decides they want to predict that a company is going to do crappier than expected. Like other seasonally migrating animals, Wall Street analysts aim to stay ahead of bad weather (like a frosty recession, which some are predicting) by making sure they have the hottest takes on whether to sell or buy.

The question is whether they’ve lowered expectations enough. Earnings season always tells a broader story about the economy and human behaviour (which is why it’s so interesting, in our opinion). These are the sectors that we think could tell the most interesting stories in the coming weeks:

Real estate:
The number of new homes being constructed across Canada trended slightly down in last month’s data. (Alberta was the big exception, thanks to an influx of oil profits.) Housing starts are something people look at to predict how the economy will behave, because a builder isn’t going to start a home it doesn’t think it can sell. It’ll be worth watching companies that support that sector, like West Fraser Timber ($WFG), which saw a 33% revenue growth last quarter and a colossal 310% growth this time last year. Earnings will be announced on July 27.

Oil:
Energy companies reaped record profits last quarter as countries scrambled to find alternative fuel sources to Russian oil and gas. ATCO ($ACO), Cenovus ($CVE), and TC Energy ($TRP) all drop numbers July 28. It’ll be interesting to see how these companies’ balance sheets are lookinging the face of two factors: 1) the price of crude oil — the stuff used to make gas — is dropping, although that drop likely won’t be reflected yet, and 2) a possible drop in demand thanks to interest rate hikes.

Tech:
In the first six months of this year, the tech-loaded Nasdaq fell by nearly a third, as once hot companies like Netflix ($NFLX, down 70% YTD), Shopify ($SHOP, down 74%), and $META (down 53%) dived. The question is whether the bleeding will continue. Netflix has already indicated that it expected to lose another two million subscribers this spring. Anything more than that could seriously shake confidence in the company— we’ll find out Tuesday, when the company reports and the streaming wars rage on.

Airlines:
Travel surged back after restrictions eased, so this could be a super-profitable year for airlines. Air Canada ($AC) releases numbers on Aug. 2 — shares have been sinking as the company has cancelled thousands of flights to keep up with increased demand, so its earnings will paint a clearer picture of whether the company’s profits are keeping it airborne.

And a few other companies who report this week: Shopify ($SHOP), lots of big U.S. financial companies ($BAC,$GS), and, for a window into the ongoing semiconductor shortage, $ASML.

— Sarah Rieger