Stocks Were Lower Yesterday, Earnings Season Ramps Up

Market Moves You Need to See Stocks Were Lower Yesterday, Earnings Season Ramps Up [Kevin Matras - EVP - Photo] Profit from the Pros By Kevin Matras Executive Vice President Stocks Were Lower Yesterday, Earnings Season Ramps Up Stocks closed lower yesterday after the Dow and the S&P 500 made new all-time highs the day before. Positive earnings surprises before the open yesterday helped give the indexes a positive start. But it was short-lived. Nonetheless, some of the beats were impressive. Goldman Sachs posted a positive EPS surprise of 22.6%, and a positive sales surprise of 9.24%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 53.6% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 45.3%. They were off -0.07% on the day. Bank of America posted a positive EPS surprise of 3.85%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.22%. But that came out to a -13.3% negative EPS surprise, although a nearly 1% positive sales surprise. They were up 0.55% on the day. And Citigroup posted a positive EPS surprise of 12.7%, and a positive sales surprise of 2.05%. That equated to quarterly EPS growth rate of -0.66% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 0.89%. They were down -5.11% on the day. We also saw earnings beats by Johnson & Johnson with a positive EPS surprise of 9.01% (they were up 1.55% yesterday), and a positive EPS surprise of 8.33% by Walgreens (they were up 15.8%). After the close, J.B. Hunt Transport posted a positive EPS surprise of 4.93%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.02%. They were up by more than 8% in after-hours trade. Today we'll hear from over 50 companies with U.S. Bancorp and Abbott Labs reporting before the open, and CSX, Alcoa and PPG Industries going after the close. In other news yesterday, Apple unveiled their newest version of the iPad Mini will finally be available on October 23, and have the technology to run their much touted AI features. As more AI features become available, they will be made available thru software updates. Yesterday's Empire State Manufacturing Index declined to -11.9 vs. last month's 11.5 and views for 2.7. We also heard from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly yesterday who said that "one or two cuts was a reasonable thing" by year's end, if the continuing data trends support it. She went on to say that "it's clear that the direction of change is down." But she also remarked that she was open to skipping a cut this year if the data warranted it. The openness of possibly skipping a rate cut in November or December was something that Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic had mentioned last week as well. The only items on the economic report docket today are MBA Mortgage Applications and Import and Export Prices. Yesterday's decline undid some of Monday's advance (all in some cases). But there's plenty of week left. If the big three indexes are able to notch yet another up week after all is said and done, it will make it 6 up weeks in a row. See you tomorrow, [Kevin Matras - Signature] Kevin Matras Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research [Get Your Free Copy of Finding #1 Stocks - A $49.95 Value]( Starting today, you can claim a free copy of Finding #1 Stocks by Zacks' EVP Kevin Matras. You don't even have to pay for shipping! Its 300 pages unfold virtually every trading secret he has learned over the last 25 years to beat the market. Here's what's inside: - See the exact formulas of strategies that produced gains up to +62.6% in 2023 - more than double the market's +26.2%. - How to spot bullish set-ups and bearish break-downs to stay ahead of the market… - Traits to determine the type of trader you are and finding stocks with highest probability of success… - Kevin's personal all-time favorite screening strategy… - And much more! 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