Salient to Investors: 17 S&P 500 tech companies so far reporting have missed estimates by an average 3.6 percent. Analysts predict the group will report a 6.7 percent decline in profit versus a predicted 2 percent increase for the S&P 500 as a whole. 72 percent of S&P 500 members
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Stephen Wood at Russell Investments says earnings will be the story of the week and the story of the month. Charles Plosser at FRB of Philadelphia said the Fed should begin tapering in September, while James Bullard of FRB of St. Louis said it should not cut back until inflation accelerates
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: US companies are poised to post some of their weakest quarterly earnings reports in 4 years, in part due to a stronger dollar. The IMF cut its forecast for global growth in 2013 to 3.1 percent, and for the US to 1.7 percent. Analysts who reduced earnings forecasts
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Chad Morganlander at Stifel Nicolaus there is a positive tone to the market in part because of belief that the Fed will continue to press on the gas. 74 percent of the 273 S&P 500 companies so far reporting beat earnings estimates, 55 percent missed sales estimates.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Michael Purves at Weeden said the markets are starting to process softening economic news and a correction. 72 percent of the 111 S&P 500 companies so far reporting have beaten earnings estimates. Thomas Nyheim at Christiana Trust said housing is showing modest improvement. William C. Dudley at
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Kevin Caron at Stifel Nicolaus cites the slowing down in earnings improvement, so stocks need to pause as investors recognize that estimates are too high, or we need genuine economic improvement to justify stock valuations. 69 percent of the 55 S&P 500 stocks so far reporting have
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Witold Bahrke at PFA Pension A/S said overall market sentiment is still driven by two forces: disappointing macro data and abundant liquidity – last week, liquidity won, this week, disappointing macro data seems to be the winner. The VIX moves in the opposite direction to the S&P 500 about 80
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: A confluence of economic forces is likely to continue to produce good times for the biggest American companies — and the stock market — even if growth, as expected, slows in the coming months. Investors are focusing on prospects for healthier growth late in 2013 and into
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The spread between analyst forecasts and S&P 500 stock prices is 5 percent, the smallest margin ever and less than half what it was when the index last peaked in October 2007, and versus the historical average of 14 percent. Bulls say the narrow margin shows securities firms are surprised by
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Prapas Tonpibulsak at Krungsri Asset Mgmt said most governments are trying to boost economic growth and employment, supportive of equity investments. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is at 10.5 times estimated earnings versus 13.4 for the MSCI World Index. Most developing market companies missed analyst estimates for the last 5 quarters whereas a majority
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