T3’s Market Wrap: Apple Does It Again, Earnings Season Rocks
The action in Apple (AAPL) has been impressive since earnings last Tuesday.
The stock hit an all-time high for the fourth straight day today, touching $209.17. That put the stock up about 23% on the year.
Then, it turned down a bit, no shocker given the stock's huge run as of late.
Scott Redler, said “it would be good to sit over $205.48 for a session or so to create a flag-type pattern. That could keep it special to possibly go again.”
And overall, second-quarter earnings season has been phenomenal.
Related: How Earnings Season Works
According to FactSet's latest data release, 81% of the S&P 500 have reported earnings. Let's take a look at the numbers.
80% of companies have reported earnings beats. If 80% is the final number, it will be the highest beat rate since Factset began tracking the data in Q3 2008.
Overall, companies are reporting earnings 4.9% above estimates, above the 5-year average.
Telecom services, health care, and information technology have had the highest rate of earning beats at 100%, 96%, and 93%, respectively.
The blended* earnings growth rate is 24%, which is well above the 20% expected back on June 30.
*blended combines actual results for companies that have reported and estimated results for companies that have
yet to report
So while expectations for this earnings season were fairly high, companies still steamrolled the estimates.
74% of companies beat sales estimates, which is above the 1-year average of 73% and way, way over the 5-year average of 58%.
Over the weekend, President Trump Tweeted (among other things…) that “tariffs are working far better than anyone ever anticipated. China market has dropped 27% in last 4 months, and they are talking to us.”
Meanwhile, China responded through its state media by saying that the “US is trying to conclude the trade disputes swiftly, but China is prepared for a protracted war.”
But overall, it seems like traders are tuning out the headlines under the assumption that “they'll eventually work things out because nobody wants a war.”
Case in point: if anyone thought a destructive trader war was on the table, the VIX would be skyrocketing and equities would be shaky.
But the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000 are all near all-time highs, and the VIX is around multi-month lows.
Gold looked ready to shine on Friday, but sold off this morning and inched towards the $1210.70 low from July 19. If gold hits that level, perhaps traders will start to worry about a break of $1200.
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