Stocks Closed Sharply Higher On Strong Earnings Image: Bigstock Stocks closed sharply higher yesterday, with all of the indexes turning up for the week. Another day of strong earnings lifted stocks. And they rallied all throughout the day, hitting their highs at the close. Even Netflix reported stronger than expected earnings (after the close yesterday) with a 10.34% positive EPS surprise. Although, sales missed by -0.70% due to unfavorable foreign exchange. But that was still a 1.30% q/q sales increase. They also reported better than expected subscriber loss, shedding 'only' 1 million subscribers vs. the 2 million that had been expected. And they are projecting a gain of 1 million new subscribers next quarter. They were up 5.61% during the normal session. And another 8% in after-hours trade. Earnings season continues with another 101 companies on deck to report today (242 total for the rest of the week). And then another 1,036 next week. In other news, the Housing Starts and Permits report came out showing Starts at 1.559 million units (annualized) vs. the consensus for 1.588M. Although, last month's previously reported 1.549M units was upwardly revised to 1.591M units. (On the whole, it looks like the 42,000 unit increase from last month far surpassed the 29,000 unit increase expected for this month.) Permits came in at 1.685M units vs. the consensus for 1.666M, and last month's 1.695M. Today we'll get yet another look at housing with MBA Mortgage Applications and Existing Home Sales. However, the big event everybody is really waiting for is next week's Fed meeting when they'll announce whether they raised rates by 50, 75 or 100 basis points. In the meantime, earnings will take center stage. And since stocks typically go up during earnings season, we could be in store for some profitable price action ahead. One thing to remember -- never underestimate the power of earnings season. See you tomorrow, Kevin Matras Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research |
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