Second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are now estimated to have fallen 6.4% year-over-year, according to Refinitiv data. While still negative, the forecast is anlogged its longest winning streak in nearly four-decades this month, underpinned by gains in sectors including healthcare, financials and energy that had underperformed during the first half of the year.
"Markets are growing increasingly confident that we are approaching the end of the current rate-hike cycle and that a soft landing can be delivered," said Joshua Warner, market analyst at City Index. "However, the future path of interest rates and the outlook for earnings both remain at the behest of macroeconomic conditions and data will remain key."
Investors will parse remarks by Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, due later in the day.to 4,600 and 5,000, respectively, to reflect a higher possibility of a soft landing. The benchmark index closed at 4,582 on Friday.