Surprising Earnings Strength Is Failing to Lift Stocks
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US companies are putting up one of their best earnings seasons in three years on the back of robust economic growth. Still, concern about tariffs, still-high interest rates and lofty valuations have kept the S&P 500 stuck in neutral for the past few weeks.
With companies accounting for three-quarters of the benchmark’s market value having reported, earnings per share are on track to jump 12.5% compared with an anticipated 7.3% before the season kicked off, according to data from Bloomberg Intelligence. That’s well above an average 5.5% increase posted since the first quarter of 2022.