Skip to footer

Second quarter predictions continue to decrease as stocks fall

As stocks continue their decline, market analysts have revised Q2 estimates slowly but steadily downward for almost the entire spectrum of S&P sectors all spring and summer long. Not a lot of good news here, not that the Reformed Broker is surprised.

|
David Karp/AP
In this June 2012, file photo Specialists Frank Masello, left, and John T. O'Hara work on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York shortly before the closing bell. All indications so far point to a slow summer as second quarter predictions continue to be adjusted downward.

We've seen Q2 estimates slowly taken down for almost the entire spectrum of S&P sectors all spring and summer long.  Steven Russolillo at MarketBeat tells us what we can expect:

Analysts currently expect second-quarter earnings growth for S&P 500 companies to come in a negative 2.1% rate, according to S&P Capital IQ. That would mark the worst growth rate since the second quarter of 2009.

Specifically, only three sectors — industrials, tech and consumer staples — are expected to see earnings expand, while the rest are expected to register slower growth.

Materials and energy lead the laggards, as both sectors are forecasted to report earnings growth slowed by 12% and 11%, respectively. The expected slowdown in the materials sector — specifically in the manufacturing and aluminum industries — comes after manufacturer Cummins and aluminum producer Alcoa reported disappointing quarterly results earlier this week.

I'm doing very little little trading here, content to watch over a dividend-focused, large value-oriented portfolio as we head into what looks to be an earnings season not to remember.

What else is going on?  Everything good otherwise?

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Second quarter predictions continue to decrease as stocks fall
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Reformed-Broker/2012/0712/Second-quarter-predictions-continue-to-decrease-as-stocks-fall
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe