Many market observers have hopes that first quarter earnings results could sustain the ongoing bull market rally. Of the 57 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 75.4% revealed better-than-expected results. Overall profits among S&P 500 companies are estimated to rise 10.8 in the quarter, their best quarterly result since 2011.
”Investors are expecting another strong earnings season,” Nandini Ramakrishnan, strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told the Wall Street Journal. “It would be disappointing if earnings-per-share numbers didn’t come out [well]…given the exuberance of markets in the past five or six months.”
Moreover, the overall global economic picture still points to continued growth ahead.
“While there has been some disappointment, the big picture has not vastly changed,” James Athey, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, told Reuters. “We’re still talking about a global economy which is doing better… and central banks that are looking to normalize, and all of that should be supportive for risk assets.”
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