Executives and analysts have returned from August holiday, and conference season is already back in full swing. Hotel ballrooms are at capacity starting immediately after Labor Day through mid-November. It\u2019s a critical moment, too. The street is anxious to hear the latest developments on several fronts, including the strength of the consumer, the hit from tariffs, and AI\u2019s latest developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By many accounts, the back-to-school shopping season was solid, despite many low- to middle-income households feeling pinched. A recent Wall Street Journal <\/em>article profiled the split among income cohorts, noting solid sentiment among the $100,000-plus income crowd, but weaker confidence for lower-income groups.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Much hinges on consumption from the wealthy, though, as they command a high share of overall US spending. Recall that the July Retail Sales report\u2019s \u201ccore control\u201d category came in better than expected, thanks to household and business resilience amid the new tariff regime.2<\/sup> Also note that President Trump\u2019s One Big, Beautiful Bill, which extends current tax rates and offers investment incentives to businesses, was signed into law on the Fourth of July. <\/p>\n\n\n\n New, higher tariff rates took effect on August 7, however. Trump\u2019s so-called \u201creciprocal\u201d duties are significantly above the previous rates for many companies. As a reminder, the textbook asserts importers ultimately pay the tariffs, not opposing nations. Goldman Sachs put out a research piece noting that through June, consumers paid just 22% of the levies, with 64% of the ultimate tariff cost being borne by US businesses (with foreign exporters covering the remaining 14%).3<\/sup> Eventually, according to Goldman, US consumers will absorb two-thirds of the tariff hit. It\u2019s a story we\u2019ve shared before, and now we\u2019ll all get to hear how companies are handling the new trade regime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As for AI, it appears to be full steam ahead. The second-quarter earnings season was gangbusters. The big capex hyperscalers (Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Oracle) confirmed major investment plans over the ensuing quarters and years. Then, just last week, NVIDIA beat top- and bottom-line estimates. The world\u2019s most valuable public company tallied a record $41.1 billion of data center revenue, with CEO Jensen Huang sounding upbeat on the Q2 conference call.4<\/sup> Shares held near all-time highs, above $180, following the report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This conference season, we\u2019ll get to hear more details from AI users, not just the picks-and-shovels chipmakers. There has been speculation that few companies are actually benefiting from AI adoption, as indicated by a report from MIT, which found that 95% of the organizations studied received zero return on their AI investment.5<\/sup> Is AI’s push coming to shove? We might find out soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These issues, along with drama at the Federal Reserve, rising long-term global interest rates, a softening US jobs market, and geopolitical tensions, confront CEOs and CIOs daily. Here are the major conferences on the docket this week and over the balance of September. It\u2019s an action-packed slate: <\/p>\n\n\n\n September 2:<\/strong>\u00a0Barclays Media and Telecom Forum September 2:<\/strong>\u00a0CITI Biopharma Back to School Conference\u00a0 September 2:<\/strong>\u00a0Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference\u00a0 September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0KBW Insurance Conference\u00a0 September 2:\u00a0<\/strong>Morgan Stanley Industrial CEOs Unplugged\u00a0 September 2:<\/strong>\u00a0TD Securities Nuclear & Uranium Conference\u00a0 September 9:<\/strong>\u00a0Berenberg Food Ingredients & Chemicals Conference September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Deutsche Bank dbAccess European TMT Conference\u00a0 September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0JP Morgan – CEO Call series —<\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally Posted on September 3, 2025 – Conference Season Ramps Up: Key Insights on Consumer Strength, Tariffs, and the AI Revolution<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Copyright \u00a9<\/sup> 2025 Wall Street Horizon, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not copy, distribute, sell or modify this document without Wall Street Horizon’s prior written consent. This information is provided for information purposes only. Neither TMX Group Limited nor any of its affiliated companies guarantees the completeness of the information contained in this publication, and we are not responsible for any errors or omissions in or your use of, or reliance on, the information. This publication is not intended to provide legal, accounting, tax, investment, financial or other advice and should not be relied upon for such advice. The information provided is not an invitation to purchase securities, including any listed on Toronto Stock Exchange and\/or TSX Venture Exchange. TMX Group and its affiliated companies do not endorse or recommend any securities referenced in this publication. This publication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor may there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. TMX, the TMX design, TMX Group, Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX, and TSX Venture Exchange are the trademarks of TSX Inc. and are used under license. Wall Street Horizon is the trademark of Wall Street Horizon, Inc. All other trademarks used in this publication are the property of their respective owners.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Executives and analysts have returned from August holiday, and conference season is already back in full swing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":586,"featured_media":207610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[146,147,8,12,148,7],"tags":[],"contributors-categories":[455],"class_list":{"0":"post-207609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-macro","8":"category-north-america","9":"category-region","10":"category-securities","11":"category-text-articles","12":"category-traders-insight","13":"contributors-categories-wall-street-horizon"},"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInformation Technology & Communication Services<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Needham Transportation Technology Industry Leaders 1×1 Conference
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference\u00a0
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Citi Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications TMT Conference\u00a0
September 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Needham 5th Annual Virtual Crypto Conference (virtual)
September 4:\u00a0<\/strong>JP Morgan Rising Tech Leaders Forum\u00a0
September 8:\u00a0<\/strong>Goldman Sachs Communacopia Technology Conference\u00a0
September 9:<\/strong>\u00a0BMO Capital Markets 26th Annual Media & Telecom Conference\u00a0
September 10:<\/strong>\u00a0Wolfe Research TMT Conference\u00a0
September 30:<\/strong>\u00a0Evercore ISI Autonomous, ADAS & AI Forum\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nHealth Care<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference\u00a0
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Cantor Fitzgerald Global Healthcare Conference\u00a0
September 8:<\/strong>\u00a0Morgan Stanley 23rd Annual Global Healthcare Conference\u00a0
September 9:<\/strong>\u00a0Baird Global Healthcare Conference\u00a0
September 10:<\/strong>\u00a0Deutsche Bank Healthcare Summit\u00a0
September 23:<\/strong>\u00a0Bank of America Global Healthcare Conference\u00a0
September 23:\u00a0<\/strong>Bernstein 2nd Annual Healthcare Forum\u00a0
September 29:\u00a0<\/strong>Jefferies Healthcare Services Conference<\/p>\n\n\n\nConsumer Discretionary & Consumer Staples<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Goldman Sachs 32nd Annual Global Retailing Conference\u00a0
September 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Bank of America Gaming and Lodging Conference
September 8:\u00a0<\/strong>UBS Luxury Conference\u00a0
September 16:<\/strong>\u00a0Wells Fargo 8th Annual Consumer Conference\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nFinancials & Real Estate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 3:\u00a0<\/strong>Barclays 10th Annual Credit Bureau Forum (virtual)
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Jefferies Fintech Conference
September 7:<\/strong>\u00a0Barclays 23rd Global Financial Services Conference\u00a0
September 9:\u00a0<\/strong>Bank of America Global Real Estate Conference\u00a0
September 10:<\/strong>\u00a0UBS Fintech Conference\u00a0
September 15:\u00a0<\/strong>Goldman Sachs Real Estate Equity and Debt Conference\u00a0
September 15:\u00a0<\/strong>Bank of America Securities 30th Annual Financials CEO Conference\u00a0
September 25:<\/strong>\u00a0Oppenheimer Insurance Summit (virtual)
September 30:<\/strong>\u00a0Mizuho REIT Conference\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nIndustrials<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 2:<\/strong>\u00a0Deutsche Bank 15th Annual Aviation Forum\u00a0
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Jefferies Industrials Conference\u00a0
September 16:<\/strong>\u00a0RBC Capital Markets Global Industrials Conference\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nEnergy & Utilities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 2:<\/strong>\u00a0Barclays 39th Annual CEO Energy-Power Conference\u00a0
September 8:<\/strong>\u00a0ROTH 12th Annual Solar & Storage Symposium\u00a0
September 18:<\/strong>\u00a0NYSE Energy & Utilities Investor Access Day
September 30:<\/strong>\u00a0Wolfe Research Utilities, Midstream & Clean Energy Conference\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nMaterials<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 9:<\/strong>\u00a0Precious Metals Summit Beaver Creek\u00a0
September 14:<\/strong>\u00a0Gold Forum Americas\u00a0
September 26:<\/strong>\u00a0Metals Investor Forum\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nRegional<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0UBS BB Global Emerging Markets One-on-One Conference\u00a0
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0UBS Global Materials Conference\u00a0
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Goldman Sachs Asia Leaders Conference
September 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Goldman Sachs 22nd Annual European Medtech and Healthcare Services Conference\u00a0
September 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Citi Global GEMS Conference\u00a0
September 8:<\/strong>\u00a0Bank of America Securities Asia Pacific Conference\u00a0
September 16:<\/strong>\u00a0Goldman Sachs European Communacopia Conference, London\u00a0
September 24:<\/strong>\u00a0Citi\u2019s China Industrial, SMID, Transport Conference\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nInvestor Specific & Multi-Sector<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Piper Sandler 11th Annual Macro Conference\u00a0
September 4:\u00a0<\/strong>TD Cowen Technology Growth Cap Summit\u00a0
September 10:<\/strong>\u00a0Morgan Stanley 13th Annual Laguna Conference\u00a0
September 16:\u00a0<\/strong>JP Morgan 16th Annual U.S. All Stars Conference\u00a0
September 17:<\/strong>\u00a0Sidoti September Small Cap Conference\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nFootnotes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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