After September lived up to its reputation as the worst month of the year, bulls are hopeful earnings will prove a welcome distraction for a stock market mired in weak seasonal trends and rising interest rates. Q3 earnings: Early signs are positive While most will date the start of earnings season to JPMorgan Chase's report , there is a significant group reporting before it. This group has quarters that end in August, rather than September.
92 Q4 S & P 500 earnings: trending higher Aug. 1: $57.55 Today: $58.14 Source: LSE The Q3 and Q4 estimates are rising mostly because of rising expectations in consumer discretionary, communication services, and technology, which were the sectors that led the initial rally in the first half of the year. These sectors are dominated by companies with very large market capitalizations. If any of those large companies have significant changes in their estimates, it can move the entire sector.