Investors will be paying close attention to forward guidance, especially for comments on how companies are handling surging costs. March’s consumer price index reading released last week showed an 8.5% increase from a year ago, the fastest annual gain since December 1981
“The odds seem to be long against underlying inflation moderating to an acceptable pace without a significant deceleration of demand growth,” 22V Research’s Gerard MacDonell said in a note Sunday.
Earnings season is off to a decent start with 77% of S&P 500 companies reporting earnings per share above expectations according to FactSet. Seven percent of the benchmark has reported results so far. Analysts believe first-quarter earnings will jump 5% for the quarter when all S&P 500 companies finish reporting, according to FactSet’s analysis of actual results and future estimates.
Our belief remains that 2022E EPS likely comes down a bit through earnings season, but likely less than we would have thought a month ago. And the more U.S.-centric and more services-centric the company, the better the EPS outlook is likely to be,” Raymond James’ Tavis McCourt said in a Sunday note.
Despite some better-than-expected results, investors sold stocks last week as they feared higher rates and inflation could darken the outlook for earnings. The S&P 500 fell 2.13% for its second negative week in a row. The Nasdaq Composite lost 2.63%, and the Dow fell 0.8% on the period. U.S. stocks did not trade Friday due to the holiday weekend.
The 10-year Treasury yield last week touched the highest levels in three years above 2.83%, which is weighing on stocks.
By: via @AlliesFin Serve Stock Market
