What's Ahead Thursday: Will Alibaba Deliver on Earnings Growth?

In addition to Alibaba, Merck and Occidental Petroleum are expected to report quarterly results.

Author:: U-Jin Lee
Publish date:: May 4, 2016 8:03 PM EDT

In "What's Ahead on Wall Street" for Thursday, May 5, we'll be watching several companies that are scheduled to report their financial results.

Alibaba Group (BABA) - Get Report , Merck (MRK) - Get Report and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) - Get Report will all report earnings in the morning. Investors will be closely watching Alibaba when the e-commerce giant posts its results.

Wall Street expects earnings of $3.62 a share on revenue of around $23.2 billion. Both the top and bottom line are projected to show significant growth.

Even though there are concerns about China's economic health, online shopping momentum has been quite strong. Traders will also be looking for any updates on the company's acquisition plans as it looks to expand its business.

On the economic calendar, we'll have U.S. jobless claims in the morning, followed by St. Louis Fed president James Bullard giving a speech about the economy.

TheStreet's U-Jin Lee reports from Wall Street.