Nevertheless, investors are still waiting on more clarity from President Donald Trump’s economic policies.
“We are now in a phase where the policies need to come to fruition to justify the move we have seen in the post-election period,” Bill Northey, chief investment officer at Private Client Group of U.S. Bank, told Reuters. “I believe that the market’s focus has shifted a bit back to fundamentals and the fourth-quarter earnings season, which at this point has started off on a reasonably positive note.”
S&P 500 companies’ profits are expected to rise 6.6% in the latest quarter, potentially revealing the strongest growth in three years, according to Thomson Reuters. However, traders are wary of lofty prices after the so-called Trump pump pushed the benchmark toward 17.7 times forward 12-month earnings, compared to the 10-year median of 14.7.
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