NEW YORK, July 24 — The rally on Wall Street faces a fresh test next week with a flood of earnings reports from major US companies, including the tech and internet behemoths that have recently retaken leadership of the market.
“The expectation level for these names is quite a bit higher than it was a month ago given the stock performance, so I think they are going to have to deliver,” said Walter Todd, chief investment officer with Greenwood Capital in South Carolina. As the Delta variant of Covid-19 sweeps through the United States, the economic outlook will be in sharp focus at the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, another pivotal event for investors seeking clues for when the central bank might rein in its easy money policies.
“Investors have... sought safety in those megacaps, particularly the megacap tech companies, which are expected to continue to deliver very strong growth,” said Tim Skiendzielewski, investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments in Philadelphia. Fewer than half of the stocks in the S&P 500 recently traded above their 50-day moving averages even as the index has been at or near new highs, compared to over 90 per cent in April, a sign that “what is happening beneath the surface is at odds with the picture of strength that is portrayed if one just looks at the popular averages,” according to Willie Delwiche, an investment strategist with market research firm All Star Charts.