Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Greece needs more funds to keep its bailout on track and European
leaders couldn't agree today how to provide the beleaguered
nation with more money. On the home front, the weekly Jobless
Claims data dropped, but remained elevated due to lingering
effects of the East
Coast storms. But all of this will likely not have much bearing
on today's trading session due to thin volumes ahead of the
Thanksgiving holiday.
We also have the final read for the University of Michigan
sentiment survey for November coming out a little later, with the
measure expected to reach its highest level since 2007. This is a
positive sign for the holiday shopping season, but makes one
wonder why consumers are in such upbeat mood if the business
community is supposedly on edge due to the looming 'Fiscal Cliff'
issue.
Weekly Jobless Claims numbers dropped 41K last week 410K from an
upward revised 451K (originally reported at 439K). The four-week
average, which smoothes out week-to-week volatility, increased by
9.5K to 396.3K. As was the case last week, the claims data is
still showing Sandy-related distortions. We will have to wait a
few more weeks to get 'cleaner' jobless claims data undistorted
by the storm.
The third quarter earnings season is coming to a close, though we
still have a handful of companies still to report results.
Including this morning's negative surprise from
Deere & Company
(
DE
) and
Salesforce.com
's (
CRM
) positive surprise after the close on Tuesday, we have results
from 489 companies in the S&P 500. Total earnings for these
companies are up 0.1% from the same period last year, with 62.2%
of the total beating earnings expectations. Total revenues for
these companies are down 0.6% and only 38.9% have come out with
positive revenue surprises.
This has been the weakest quarterly earnings season since the
current earnings cycle got underway in 2009. Estimates for the
fourth quarter have come down since the third quarter reporting
season got underway, but expectations for 2013 still remain
elevated.
Sheraz Mian
Director of Research
SALESFORCE.COM (CRM): Free Stock Analysis
Report
DEERE & CO (DE): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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