The major indices are sporting modest gains, having faded back from higher levels seen at the start of today’s trading. Like yesterday, it hasn’t been a terribly impressive rebound effort considering how far the major indices have fallen this month and the accelerated selling seen over the last week.
The response to earnings reports has been mixed, but the biggest response has been reserved for some of the biggest companies, which is tipping the market-cap-weighted scales in favor of the S&P 500 at the moment. That would include names like Meta Platforms (FB 197.24, +22.29, +12.7%), Qualcomm (QCOM 142.7, +7.67, +5.7%), Merck (MRK 87.96, +3.55, +4.2%), Southwest Airlines (LUV 46.73, +0.79, +1.7%), and McDonald’s (MCD 252.00, +4.86, +2.0%).
Still, it is not a clean slate of earnings reporters, as losses in Caterpillar (CAT 203.85, -10.11, -4.7%), Amgen (AMGN 235.26, -13.53, -5.4%), O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY 639.15, -74.14, -10.4%), and Stanley Black & Decker (SWK 127.71, -11.93, -8.6%) following their earnings reports, along with a blowup in Teladoc (TDOC 29.83, -26.16, -46.7%) after its earnings report, have tempered some of the rebound enthusiasm.
In the same vein, so has the Advanced Q1 GDP report, which showed real GDP decreasing at an annual rate of 1.4% and the GDP Chain Deflator surging 8.0%. It was a report that stoked concerns about stagflation and the need for the Fed to remove its policy accommodation in an aggressive manner despite the lackluster growth.
Tomorrow will be significant. Not only because we will be able to measure risk appetite into the weekend and because AAPL and AMZN both report earnings tonight.
Headsup…I will be traveling for the next two weeks and I will also be in a 16-hour time zone difference. Once I get acclimated to the time difference I will do my best to poke in here but it won’t be as often as it normally is.
I’m not loving this market right here although I am open-minded to a face-ripping rally at any point.
I will keep you guys posted as best I can while I am away, and if I see any setups over the next couple of weeks I will let you know.