Good morning, CFOs. Massive stock market losses are a new test for corporate leaders; big earnings week ahead with Meta, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon reporting; plus, what billionaire John Paulson thinks about gold.

The Magnificent Seven drove the stock market’s bull run. Now, their bruising losses pose a new test for markets.

For the past two years, the group of megasize tech companies—Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla—helped fuel a gangbusters rally that lifted stocks out of the 2022 bear market and toward dozens of all-time highs. Investors powered their shares to eye-popping levels, heralding them for their fortresslike balance sheets and their lead in the artificial intelligence race.

Now, even after a rally this past week, the Magnificent Seven are off to their worst start to a year since the 2022 slide, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Each stock has fallen more than 6.5%, and they have collectively lost $2.5 trillion in market value. The Roundhill Magnificent Seven exchange-traded fund just posted its best four-day run ever, notching a 13% climb—that still left it down about 15% this year.

Investors will get a fresh look at the Magnificent Seven’s prospects in the coming days when Meta, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon report earnings. Nvidia’s quarterly results are due in late May.

Monday

Earnings: Domino’s, F5, Nucor, Revvity, Roper Technologies, SBA Communications, Teradyne, Universal Health Services, Waste Management

Tuesday

Earnings: Altria Group, American Tower, AstraZeneca, Booking Holdings, Caesars Entertainment, Coca-Cola, Corning, Edison International, Entergy, First Solar, General Motors, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Honeywell International, HSBC Holdings, Incyte, Kraft Heinz, Labcorp Holdings, Mondelez International, Novartis, PayPal Holdings, Pfizer, PPG Industries, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Royal Caribbean Group, Seagate Technology Holdings, Sherwin-Williams, Snap, SoFi Technologies, S&P Global, Spotify Technology, Starbucks, Sysco, United Parcel Service, Veralto, Visa

S&P CoreLogic releases its Case-Shiller National Home Price Index for February.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index for April.

Wednesday

Earnings: Aflac, Allstate, Caterpillar, Cognizant Technology Solutions, eBay, Equinix, Garmin, GE HealthCare Technologies, Hess, Humana, Illinois Tool Works, International Paper, Meta, MetLife, MGM Resorts International, Microsoft, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, PPL, Prudential Financial, Public Storage, Qualcomm, Robinhood Markets, Stanley Black & Decker, Stellantis, UBS Group, Vulcan Materials, Western Digital, Yum! Brands

ADP releases its National Employment Report for April.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its advance estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product growth.

The Institute for Supply Management releases the Chicago Business Barometer for April.

The National Association of Realtors releases its Pending Home Sales Index for March.

The BEA releases the personal consumption expenditures price index for March.

Thursday

Earnings: Airbnb, Amazon.com, American International Group, Apple, Becton Dickinson, Biogen, Block, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Consolidated Edison, CVS Health, Eli Lilly, Estée Lauder, GoDaddy, Hershey, Ingersoll Rand, Iron Mountain, KKR, Live Nation, Mastercard, McDonald’s, MicroStrategy, Moderna, Mohawk Industries, Motorola Solutions, Parker-Hannifin, Quanta Services, Southern Co., Stryker, Targa Resources, Thomson Reuters.

The Bank of Japan announces its monetary policy decision.

The ISM releases its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for April.

Friday

Earnings: AES, Apollo Global Management, Cboe Global Markets, Chevron, Cigna Group, DuPont, Exxon Mobil, Franklin Resources and T. Rowe Price Group

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the jobs report for April.

Drew Vollero, the chief financial officer of Reddit, knows what it’s like to wait for the right time to go public. The social-media company confidentially filed paperwork to go public in late 2021, but held off on pursuing an IPO after market conditions turned less favorable. The company completed its public offering last year, roughly two years later than planned.

Vollero, who joined Reddit in March 2021, said the delay had unexpected benefits, allowing the company to expand its business, while also giving executives more practice closing the books, forecasting performance and preparing for earnings calls.

During an interview with CFO Journal, Vollero, who also led Snap’s 2017 IPO, discussed what he learned during his two-year wait to go public—and what CFOs can learn from his experience as the IPO market faces another rough patch. Here are edited and condensed takeaways.

1️⃣ Work on closing your books quickly and accurately.

Think of this as a prerequisite. Finance chiefs need to be able to efficiently close their books each quarter in order to consider going public. Doing so provides the basis for accurate financial forecasts, as well as conversations with boards, analysts and investors. “You’ve got to be able to build that muscle,” he said.  

2️⃣ Make sure you hire the right people.

CFOs aiming for an IPO need to make sure the people they hire into prominent roles—chief accounting officer, vice president of finance, head of internal audit, and so on—are a good fit. “You need public-company-ready people with that type of experience that can really scale with your company and help it navigate public waters,” Vollero said.

3️⃣ Practice, practice, practice.

Reddit had more time than it expected—eight quarters—to tell its story to investors and host mock earnings calls with investment banks. It ended up giving executives time to sharpen their communication and understand how investors and analysts think. “If you were the director of a play, would you do a dress rehearsal? I would. We just got the benefit of doing eight dress rehearsals,” he said.

—Kristin Broughton

Huawei Technologies is gearing up to test its newest and most powerful artificial-intelligence processor, which the company hopes could replace some higher-end products of U.S. chip giant Nvidia.

The steady advance by one of China’s flagship technology companies points to the resilience of the country’s semiconductor industry despite efforts by Washington to stymie it, including by cutting off access to some Western chip-making equipment.

Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip, called the Ascend 910D, people familiar with the matter said. The company is slated to receive the first batch of samples of the processor as soon as late May, some of the people said.

The development is still at an early stage, and a series of tests will be needed to assess the chip’s performance and get it ready for customers, the people said.

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The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email Walden at walden.siew@wsj.com.