Earnings Growth

How can Wall Street follow up its best day in nearly two months? That’s the question Tuesday after the S&P 500 (SPX) touched a nearly six-month high Monday amid growing enthusiasm about both the U.S. and Chinese economies. If anything stands in the way of continued gains, it might be...

Friday’s enthusiasm looks like it might spill over into the new week as the focus remains squarely on China. A surprisingly healthy reading from China’s manufacturing sector early Monday was the first positive data out of that country in a while. While this could be a sign that Beijing...

Unlike last month, which dawned with key deadlines looming and a Fed meeting in the wings, April begins with a pretty wide runway leading up to the start of earnings season at mid-month. Some of the worst-case scenarios investors appeared worried about a month ago don’t appear to be as...

The interest rate shuffle might continue today, with U.S. stocks apparently taking their cue from what’s going on in the Treasury market. A negative tone prevailed early as yields sank again. A few weeks ago, stocks and Treasuries were both marching upward in sync, which is a bit unusual. Now...

Earlier this year, the latest rumors about trade negotiations with China could sometimes send U.S. stocks off to the races or into the pits. These days, it looks like moves in the interest rate complex might be having the same impact. With China talks simmering but not sizzling, interest rates now...

Stocks seemed determined to end what’s been a powerful week in the green. A positive tone infused the markets early Friday in part on optimism about China as investors eyed the latest trade news and also viewed more economic stimulus from the Beijing government. We’ll get to the trade...

Uber announced its fourth quarter 2018 earnings yesterday, reporting a net loss of $865 million and an adjusted pro-forma net loss of $768 million. Though the figures on the outset look better than Q3 2018 pre-tax net loss of $971 million, the Q4 2018 net loss was lessened due to a tax benefit,...

Last week’s solid earnings from Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) might have raised the stakes for Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR), a company in the same social media space reporting this Thursday. FB’s quarter was arguably a pleasant surprise considering some of the controversies hanging...

Two more strong reports are in from a fourth quarter that brushed aside concerns of a significant downward trend in freight markets. – Less than truckload (LTL) carrier Saia Inc (NASDAQ: SAIA) reported a 12.9 percent increase in revenue, a 45.4 percent increase in operating income...

Looking back, 2018 is arguably a year Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) might rather forget. Highlights (or lowlights) for the social network company included top executives having to testify to legislators about mishandled data exposing millions of users, the hacking of nearly 50 million accounts, and the...

If there was a significant freight market slowdown in the fourth quarter, there haven't been too many signs of it in any earnings reports that have been issued so far. The report released Thursday by Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ: MRTN) is the latest truckload carrier that is putting...

Like a rubber band, it appears stocks are ready to snap back from Tuesday’s sharp losses as investors ponder a fresh set of earnings news.  At the same time, nothing else seems to have really changed much. The same old stew of geopolitics continues to be the backdrop, with little...