An Earnings Bonanza!

Earnings reporting season is now in full swing and so far the numbers are not too shabby. A couple of earnings standouts so far are Netflix (NasdaqGS: NFLX) and Boeing (NYSE: BA). Netflix saw subscriber and revenue growth both exceed analyst’s expectations and their stock has skyrocketed since their earnings release last week. Boeing which reported before the bell yesterday also knocked the cover off the ball as the company nearly doubled its net income from the prior period a year ago. A company doubling its net income may not sound like a lot, but when you go from $1.63B in net income to $3.13B that is clearly moving the needle in a fascinating way. Boeing shareholders were also rewarded yesterday as the stock traded north of $350.00 per share hitting all-time highs. I am just highlighting a couple of standouts so far with hundreds of companies set to report over the coming days and throughout the next few weeks.

After a 2 day mini sell-off to start the week the key indexes did bounce back yesterday and resumed its  uptrend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) closed the month of January above 26,000, the S&P 500 (chart) closed out the month at 2823.81, the Nasdaq Composite (chart) closed at 7411.48 and the small-cap Russell 2000 (chart) closed at 1575. Even with the first noticeable sell-off earlier in the week the aforementioned indexes did have a stellar performance in January gaining more than 5% on the month.

I will say this, earlier in the week and for the first time in almost 2 years the market did feel vulnerable and the sell-off felt a bit different than recent pullbacks. Pundits are suggesting that interest rates may be playing a role in the volatility for the first time in years. I have been tracking the yield on the U.S. 10 year Treasury Note (Symbol: TNX) and for the first time in a long time the yield exceeded 2.7%. A break above 3% for an extended period of time could cause volatility to continue in stocks and may be the very first catalyst to put the brakes on this almost decade long bull run. Let’s see how the rest of earnings reporting season plays out and how interest rates fare in February before we can draw any type of conclusion. Good luck to all 🙂

~George