The Market Breaks Its Streak

The stock market is currently up a little bit this morning. On Friday, the Dow plunged 205 points which made it the worst day for the index since June 25th. That broke a run of 81 straight days without a 1% decline. Bespoke Investment Group notes that that’s only the 19th time since 1900 that the Dow has gone 80 days without a 1% drop (via Steven Russolitto). Historically, the market hasn’t done well in the period after breaking a long streak like this. The S&P 500 also closed a hair below its 50-day moving average.

The good news for our Buy List this morning is that Wright Express ($WXS) was upgraded to neutral at JPMorgan. The stock is up over 3.3% today.

Here are some numbers on earnings season so far: According to Bloomberg, 69% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have topped expectations. The average earnings beat is coming in at 4%. The sour note is that sales are only growing at 1.8%. The most surprising fact is that for the first time in 17 years, U.S. stocks are the top asset category.

I have a correction to the earnings dates I had in the last CWS Market Review. I had said that CR Bard ($BCR) reports today. My bad. The company will report earnings tomorrow along with AFLAC ($AFL) and Reynolds American ($RAI).

Posted by on October 22nd, 2012 at 10:24 am


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.