The Magic Force Driving US Stocks to Records? Earnings Upgrades

No wonder the S&P 500 Index is marching from one record to the next: Analysts are ratcheting up earnings estimates for the current quarter at the swiftest pace in nearly four years.

A Citigroup Inc. index that tracks the relative number of US earnings-per-share estimate upgrades versus downgrades is at its highest since December 2021. And the trend is just as strong among companies that recently issued their own outlooks. A gauge of forward guidance that compares corporate forecasts with the Wall Street consensus is hovering at its second-highest level in nearly four years, Bloomberg Intelligence data show.