Before you know it, September will be over. It is likely to defy the month's reputation of being a bad one for stocks (chart). Instead, the S&P 500 rose to a new record high of 6693.75 on Monday, September 22.
October has also experienced some painful stock market setbacks, although the month has often provided good buying opportunities following poor September performances. Q3's earnings reporting season occurs in October. We expect it will be a positive one for the market.
The rebound in the stock market since this year's low on April 8 (when it bottomed at 4982.77) has been extraordinary. That's mainly because the Q1 and Q2 earnings seasons (during April and July) were much better than expected (chart). We are expecting similar "earnings hooks" (i.e., upturns in the data series as actual results are incorporated) for Q3 and Q4.
Q2's upbeat earnings surprises weren't limited to the Information Technology and Communication Services sectors, in general, or the Magnificent-7 and the AI stocks, in particular. The Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors also beat expectations (chart).
