With quarterly earnings season in full swing, market participants have looked to whether companies could justify high valuations, with the forward price-to-earnings ratio on the benchmark S&P index near 20-year highs at almost 22.7. — Reuters pic
Apple reported holiday-quarter sales and profit that beat Wall Street expectations. However, shares of the iPhone maker fell after climbing about 7 per cent to start the year. “It is still early days where we are only a third of the way through the S&P but the surprises look more positive than usual and that bodes well as an outlook for the economy and for the markets.”
“Trading platforms are not going to want to stick their necks out and be on the frontline of what they may see as a reckless war, in part, against the elite and the system of Wall Street that’s being democratized by information and the social media,” said Eric Schiffer, chief executive officer of private equity firm the Patriarch Organization.