David Dietze, managing principal of Peapack Private Wealth Management, provides insight on five of the magnificent seven stocks reporting earnings this week.
Importantly, cyclical companies, whose prospects are closely tied to the trajectory of the economy, were heavily represented among the companies that have reported. Should earnings in that cohort start to improve, that would be a bullish development for investors worried about the dominance of technology shares in a market that has gone from one record to the next this year.
It’s been a tough stretch for cyclical sectors, which have had to grapple with feeble demand and higher inventories after the Federal Reserve boosted interests rates to the highest in decades to quell inflation. With the central bank easing and the economy in solid shape, the outlook for these companies is brightening.
US manufacturing activity shrank in September for a sixth month, reflecting weak orders and declining employment. However, on a more promising note, a Dallas Fed manufacturing survey suggests that the October ISM is likely to tick up, wrote Chris Collins at Bloomberg Economics.