The US reporting season has crossed the halfway mark, with 275 of the companies in the S&P 500 now having reported.
Of those, 68% have beaten consensus estimates (many of which have been lowered over the past few months) but those beats were not convincing (except perhaps for Netflix).
In aggregate first-quarter S&P 500 earnings are now forecast to fall 12.7% from a year ago, a sharp reversal from the 6.3% annual growth forecast at the beginning of the year.
The coming week sees 1,300 companies reporting worldwide and more than 100 S&P 500 members in the US. Media majors such as the Walt Disney, Fox Corp, New York Times Co, and News Corp report on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Other US media companies due to report include Meredith, Tegna, Electronic Arts, Liberty Media, Liberty Global, EW Scripps, AH Belo, Sinclair Broadcasting, IHeart Radio, and ViacomCBS.
Other companies due to report include Square Inc, GoPro, FitBit, Newmont, Sprint, Apache, Albermarle, Wynn Resorts, MetLife, Shopify, Sonos and Loews.
Thursday and Friday saw mixed reactions to earnings reports.
After rising strongly on Thursday after a surprise profit, shares in Tesla Inc slumped 10.3% after a tweet from CEO Elon Musk who said its stock price was “too high.”
Amazon shares slid 7.6% after the online retailer warned in its first-quarter results late Thursday that pandemic-related expenses could lead to its first quarterly loss in five years.
While Apple Inc’s quarterly results beat expectations and the increased dividend and buyback were liked, the iPhone maker declined to provide current-quarter forecasts. Its shares were off 1.6%.
Shares in Exxon Mobil slipped 7.1% after the company reported a drop in profit due to a massive $US3 billion write-down on plummeting oil demand and prices.
Shares in rival, Chevron Corp fell 2.8%. after reporting a profit of $US3 billion for the quarter. It took an $US11 billion write down in the December quarter.
Both companies announced plans to cut production over the next month or so – around 200,000 barrels a day each.
