Market Commentary

The most important news last week may have actually happened this past weekend. On Sunday, voters went to the polls in France, Greece, and Germany and the results could have a major impact on world markets. French voters sent incumbent president Nicholas Sarkozy packing and, instead, elected Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande. Hollande “has pledged to shift the burden of economic hardship onto the rich and to resolve the protracted euro sovereign-debt crisis by softening the current prescription of austerity,” according to The Wall Street Journal. While his strategy is debatable, it will likely cause a rift with Germany and add uncertainty to recent eurozone agreements.
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What is the costliest fruit? How about an apple, as in Apple, Inc.? With more than $500 billion in market capitalization, Apple is the world’s most valuable company, according to Reuters. Last week, the company reported quarterly earnings that easily trumped analyst forecasts and this helped propel the S&P 500 to a 1.8 percent weekly gain. But it’s not just Apple that’s doing well. According to FactSet, a robust 78 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far this quarter have beaten analysts’ forecasts.
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Move over European debt headlines, corporate earnings have something to say. Even though troubles are brewing again across the pond in Europe, corporate earnings season in the U.S. is stealing the spotlight. Why? According to CNBC, more than 100 companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings and 8 out of 10 have delivered better than expected results – and that’s grabbed investors’ attention.
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The Markets When in doubt, blame it on the weather. It’s back. Volatility, that is. Like a yo-yo, the market bounced around and the S&P 500 index ultimately ended down 2.0 percent for the week and 3.4 percent from this …
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When in doubt, blame it on the weather. It’s human nature to want to ascribe a reason to everything that happens in the world. Rather than feeling like it’s all random, we always want to know why the market went up or why bats hang upside down or why white is the most popular car color.
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