The market posted its first weekly gain in almost a month, this right before earnings reporting season begins. For the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) finished up 1.29%, the Nasdaq (chart) +0.64%, the S&P 500 (chart) +1.41%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 (chart) closed the week up 0.65%.

Third quarter earnings reporting season will be the highlight next week with earnings reports coming out of Alcoa (NYSE: AA) Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), just to name a few. Most analysts have ratcheted down their earnings forecasts due to the tepid pace of global growth and the number of companies that have pre-announced to the downside. The big question now is, are these adjustments already priced into equities and indexes? My feelings are that if there are any big surprises to the downside and stocks sell-off, that fund managers and institutional buyers are sitting on the sidelines ready to act. We cannot forget the position of the Fed which essentially gives this class of investors the green light to deploy capital into the markets. Of course there are no guarantees that this will be the mandate, however, odds are that any significant sell-off due to earnings reporting season would be met with support. Good luck to all.

Have a great weekend 🙂

~George