S&P 500 Earnings

The Oscar For The Best Leading Economic Indicator

Oct 7, 2024 3 min read paid

There have been numerous misleading economic indicators signaling a recession since the Fed started tightening monetary policy in early 2022. Among the worst have been the inverting yield curve and then the disinverting yield curve. And, of course, there's the falling Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI), which is long overdue for a product recall. On the other hand, S&P 500 operating forward earnings has been

Ed Yardeni

Raising Odds Of A Meltup

Sep 19, 2024 4 min read paid

We've focused on three scenarios since the start of the decade: a 1920s-style Roaring 2020s, a reprise of the 1990s stock market meltup, and a rerun of That '70s Show with geopolitical shocks causing oil prices and inflation to spike. We haven't had to change our subjective probabilities of 60/20/20 for these three alternative outlooks. However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is forcing

Ed Yardeni

Market Call: Is The Stock Market Hazardous?

Jun 30, 2024 2 min read paid

The stock market rose to another record high last week. It has been doing so in recent weeks led by fewer sectors and fewer stocks. The S&P 500 market-cap-weighted stock price index has significantly outperformed the equal-weighted index in recent weeks (chart). Many technicians warn that this could be a bearish sign in the short-run if the leaders experience a correction. An alternative scenario

Ed Yardeni

Market Call: From Dow 40,000 To Infinity & Beyond

May 19, 2024 3 min read

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 40,000 on Friday for the first time. It's on track to rise 50% to 60,000 by 2030, in our opinion (chart). The S&P 500 should rise by as much to 8000. That target could be achieved with a forward P/E of 20 and forward earnings at $400 per share, up 60% from an estimated $250 per

Ed Yardeni

'There's Still No Rush'

Mar 27, 2024 2 min read paid

So said Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller this evening at the Economic Club of New York in a speech titled “There’s Still No Rush.” He noted that the latest inflation figures were "disappointing" and that the economy and labor market remain strong. So, in his opinion, "it is appropriate to reduce the overall number of rate cuts or push them further into the future in response

Ed Yardeni

Broadening Bull

Mar 11, 2024 2 min read paid

The S&P 500 market-weighted stock price index is up 43.2% since the current bull market started on October 12, 2022 (chart). The equal-weighted version of the index is up 29.5% since it bottomed on September 30, 2022. This confirms our view that the bull market has been a broad one all along. The equal-weighted index has certainly been in a bull market, it

Ed Yardeni

MegaCap-8 Continue To Impress

Feb 6, 2024 2 min read

Through Friday’s close, the S&P 500 price index is up 4.0% ytd to a record high. The MegaCap-8 collectively has outperformed with a gain of 7.6%, also a record high (chart). Without the MegaCap-8 stocks, the S&P 500 would be up 2.5% ytd. The MegaCap-8 now accounts for a record-high 28.3% of the S&P 500’

Ed Yardeni

Fourth Quarter's Earnings Reporting Season Begins

Jan 9, 2024 2 min read paid

The new year is about to begin with an earnings reporting season for the last quarter of the old year. We've been optimistic on the outlook for earnings because we expected the economy to remain resilient and grow despite the Fed's aggressive tightening of monetary policy over the past two years. So we were pleased to see that S&P 500 operating earnings per share

Ed Yardeni

S&P 500 Earnings At Record High

Dec 12, 2023 2 min read paid

Yippee! S&P 500 operating earnings per share rose to a record high in Q3, for the first time since Q2-2022, and its 4.6% y/y increase was the first such gain in four quarters (chart). Forward earnings rose to another record high during the December 7 week, suggesting the same for actual earnings during Q4. The just-ended earnings recession was very mild, with three back-

Ed Yardeni

S&P 500 Earnings Climbing Higher

Dec 1, 2023 2 min read

S&P 500 earnings per share are heading up according to industry analysts. We agree. There was lots of pessimism over the past year, with a few influential Wall Street strategists predicting that this year’s result could break bad, i.e., below $200. We stuck with our projections of $225 for this year and $250 for 2024, which seemed farfetched (if not delusional) late last year. But then

Ed Yardeni

Everything Is OK Except For...

Oct 24, 2023 2 min read paid

The Q3 earnings reporting season is underway and going well with Microsoft delivering a big upside earnings surprise after today's close. We still expect that S&P 500 earnings per share rose to a record high during the quarter. That's confirmed by S&P 500 forward earnings (chart). Inflation continues to moderate as confirmed by today's Richmond Fed regional business survey'

Ed Yardeni

The Forces Of Light Versus The Forces of Darkness

Oct 16, 2023 2 min read

Yin and yang. The forces of darkness appeared in the bond market while light shined in the stock market today. Bond investors would like to see weaker economic indicators to have more confidence that inflation can continue to moderate. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index remained relatively elevated at 51.8 on Friday (chart). They would also like to see less supply at the Treasury bond auctions, but that isn'

Ed Yardeni

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