Rates to hamper stocks as earnings roll
Friday April 7, 8:45 pm ET
By Chris Sanders (edited summary)
Friday's stock market retreat could spill over into next week as bears concentrate on interest rates and oil. BEARISH 🙁
Stocks fell on Friday as a stronger-than-expected jobs report suggested more interest-rate increases ahead, overshadowing hopes for hefty corporate profits. "The overriding influence in markets for the next period will be tied to economic information, interest rates and oil prices," said Edgar Peters, the chief investment officer and macro strategist with PanAgora Asset Management in Boston. "The macro environment will become more and more important, going forward."
U.S. crude oil prices took their direction from a surprisingly large drop in gasoline inventories this week, driving oil and related products higher for the week. In New York, crude oil futures touched a two-month high this week. "Oil prices have not been a positive for the equity market with the potential for rising inflation," said Anthony Chan, senior economist at JPMorgan Asset Management. At Friday's close, U.S. crude oil for May delivery (CLK6) settled on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $67.39 a barrel -- up 1.14 percent for the week and less than $4 below the record U.S. crude futures price of $70.85 a barrel set after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
Still, earnings strength from companies like Alcoa Inc. could kick the market higher from time to time.
BULLISH 😀
Alcoa, kicks off the first-quarter earnings season Monday with what are expected to be sharply improved net profits and stronger revenues over the year-ago period, according to analyst estimates. Alcoa is the first of the Dow industrials to report quarterly earnings. After Alcoa, conglomerate General Electric Co. will report quarterly results on Thursday before the market opens. GE results are widely watched. Not only is GE a Dow component like Alcoa, but it is so diversified that many investors view it as a proxy for the U.S. economy. "Next week, earnings numbers will probably be a positive for the market. The overriding negative, though, is going to be the outlook for interest rates," said Joe Liro, economist and market strategist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates.
Earnings of S&P 500 companies in the first quarter are projected to rise about 11 percent over the same period a year ago. Companies in the energy and health-care sectors are expected to show the largest year-over-year earnings gains -- 48 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
Main indicators next week
[size=+0]Trade Deficit Report will be released on Wednesday. This is [/size]expected to ease off a bit to $67.50 billion in February after hitting a fresh record of $68.51 billion in January. That should create some drag on first-quarter gross domestic product but not enough to derail what most economists believe was solid growth in the quarter
Retail Sales are due Thursday. Retail performance is likely to become increasingly important for the Federal Reserve as it looks to gauge the extent of a housing-led slowdown on consumer spending. A 0.5 percent gain in March sales is forecast by economists polled by Reuters, following a 1.4 percent decline in February. Sales excluding cars also were expected to rise 0.4 percent following the previous month's 0.6 percent drop.
University of Michigan April Consumer Sentiment Index is also due on Thursday and is likely to rise to 89.0 in April, from 88.9 in March, according to the Reuters poll.
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