After spending five straight trading sessions declining, earnings season brought the markets back in a big way yesterday. Alcoa's leadoff home run snapped the market's malaise; the prominent aluminum manufacturer hit its earnings out of the park with a $0.10 per share gain, blowing past estimates of a $0.04 cent per share loss. Today sees that momentum continue, shaking off rising unemployment claims, but a poor GDP report out of China could cause a traders to rethink their newfound bullishness.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at how the major indexes are faring so far today and drill down on three stocks investors are eagerly anticipating quarterly results from.
Index |
Gain / Loss |
Gain / Loss % |
Intraday Value |
---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
139.03 | 1.09% | 12,994.42 |
Nasdaq | 35.75 | 1.18% | 3,052.21 |
S&P 500 | 13.81 | 1.01% | 1,382.52 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
Before jumping into the earnings, let's touch on the Department of Justice's kerfuffle with Apple
With the Department of Justice possibly signaling that this pricing method is coming to an end, an emboldened Amazon announced cutting many e-book prices back down to $9.99, where had it originally set them before being forced by publishers to raise prices roughly 50% on average. Competitors like the embattled Barnes & Noble
Shifting to earnings, Dow component JPMorgan Chase
Get ready for more earnings season surprises
For more earnings season insight, check out our brand-new free report: "5 Stocks Investors Need to Watch This Earnings Season." It details what to look for from Apple and four other must-watch companies as they report their latest results. Get access right now.