RESEARCH

Q3 Earnings Should Be Fine, but Expectations Beyond This Quarter Are High | Weekly Market Commentary | October 21, 2024

Q3 Earnings Should Be Fine, but Expectations Beyond This Quarter Are High | Weekly Market Commentary | October 21, 2024

The S&P 500 consensus earnings growth number of 3% for the third quarter is not something to write home about, especially after double-digit earnings growth in the second quarter. The soft number is partly due to a tougher comparison. In Q2 2024, earnings had an easier comparison with a 3.3% drop in earnings in the prior-year quarter (Q2 2023 vs. Q2 2022). For the third quarter now being reported, the comparison gets tougher as earnings growth in Q3 2023 was over 5% (vs. Q2 2022).

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Happy Two-Year B-Day Bull Market – Here’s to a Third! | Weekly Market Commentary | October 14, 2024

Happy Two-Year B-Day Bull Market – Here’s to a Third! | Weekly Market Commentary | October 14, 2024

The October 13 rally that ended the bear market at a low of 3,577.03 began with the S&P 500 selling off in the morning only to rally dramatically higher into the market close. The CPI report earlier in the day showed headline inflation at 8.2% on a year-over-year basis, but Core CPI ─ not including food and fuel prices ─ beat the consensus estimate at 6.6%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,669.91 and the bull market had commenced.

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