Earnings season hit full speed last week, as hundreds more companies reported results. According to Barron’s, the percentage of companies beating earnings expectations remained elevated around 80%, and those beating the all-important revenue expectations remained near 60%. The reaction to the news was less impressive as major market indices declined slightly on the week. (more…)

The milestone of the Dow Jones 10,000 was hit last week on strong earnings reports from large companies. The big banks like JP Morgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) were the focus of investors, and their results beat analysts’ estimates on higher than expected trading revenues. Investors were disappointed by Bank of America (BAC) and General Electric (GE), who both had issues with bad loans. (more…)

Seven cents per share—that was all it took, and stocks across the globe rallied, sending the S&P 500 back toward its highs for the year. Those seven cents per share were earned by Alcoa (AA), the unofficial pace car that kicked off earnings season on Wednesday. While a few pennies may seem like an inadequate profit to move markets, move markets it did indeed. (more…)

The third quarter came to an end last week, and that means investors are about to get flooded with earnings reports. Alcoa (AA) kicks off reporting season on Wednesday. After that, reports will trickle in for a week. Then the floodgates will open, and we should get a good idea about how corporate America is faring after massive cost-cuts earlier in the year. (more…)