Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Without much on the data front this morning, optimism about Greece is giving stocks an early boost. The turnaround in oil prices is helping Energy sector stocks, as well.
Greece’s new government appears to have climbed down from its debt write-off demand. Media reports suggest that the Greek government would be willing to swap existing bonds for new growth linked instruments, raising hopes of existing bond holders that they will be spared major losses on their holdings. This helped Athens stocks rally today, and that rubbed off on the major indexes across the region as well as here in the U.S.
We don’t have many economic reports coming today, though the rest of this week has plenty of labor market-related readings coming out, particularly Friday’s government non-farm payroll report. Earnings season will remain the catalyst in the meantime, with this morning’s reports from UPS (UPS), Aetna (AET) and others bringing the total number of S&P 500 members that have come out with results to 250, which combined account for 64.8% of the index’s total market capitalization.
Total earnings for these companies are up +4.3% from the same period last year, with 71.6% beating earnings estimates. Total revenues are essentially flat from the same period last year (down -0.1%), with 54.2% beating top-line estimates. The results thus far offer a mixed comparison to what we have seen from the same group of companies in recent quarters. The beat ratios are about where they have been for this same group of companies, though revenue beat ratios are somewhat on the low side. However, growth rates are tracking below levels we have been seeing in previous quarters.
Sheraz Mian
Director of Research
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