Bullish fund managers are starting to lay down bets that it will be this way for a while.
Jul 9, 2020The disconnect shows how the coronavirus has thrown all bets off.
Jul 3, 2020The list is heavily filled by speculative bets like cruise operators and airlines.
Jun 18, 2020Millennials and Gen Zers are opening online brokerage accounts at a record pace.
May 6, 2020JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Photo: J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Wells Fargo swung to its first loss since the financial crisis — while JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup reported significantly lower profits from a year earlier — as the banks set aside billions of dollars more in the second quarter for loans that may go bad.
Why it matters: The cumulative $28 billion in loan loss provisions that banks have so far announced they’re reserving serves as a signal they’re preparing for a colossal wave of loan defaults as the economy slogs through a coronavirus-driven downturn.
An index measuring optimism in the Nasdaq 100 rose on Friday to its highest level since just before the dot-com bubble burst.
What's happening: The three-month average of SentimenTrader's Nasdaq Optimism Index is at the highest level since 2000 and its 30-day average is at one of the highest levels ever.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Asset managers at major U.S. investment firms are starting to get bullish with their clients, encouraging stock buying and trying not to get left behind right as the metrics on tech stocks rise back to highs not seen since the dot-com crash of 2000.
What's happening: Appetite for stocks is starting to return, but slowly as institutional money managers were overwhelmingly sitting on the sidelines in cash during April and May.
U.S. tech stocks continue rising even as the broader market falls, furthering the divide between the economically driven Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Why it matters: As earnings continue to be written down and the Nasdaq's value continues to rise, it has pushed the index to a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 34.2, well above its historical average, according to FactSet.
China and much of Southeast Asia look to be bouncing back strongly from the coronavirus pandemic as stock markets and much of the country's economic data are returning to pre-pandemic levels.
What's happening: "Our tracking points to a clear V-shaped recovery in China," economists at the Institute of International Finance said in a note to clients Tuesday, predicting the country's second-quarter growth will rise above 2% after its worst quarter on record in Q1.
Minutes from June's meeting of Fed policymakers was released on Wednesday and showed the central bank is still ready to provide support "for some time" to markets.
Why it matters: With coronavirus cases rising, recent economic data largely moving backwards, and companies' earnings and revenue guidance slipping, the Fed looks to be the driving force behind the march upwards of stock prices.
Despite cutting expectations for companies' earnings by the most in history and revenue by the most since 2009, Wall Street analysts are getting increasingly bullish on the overall direction of the U.S. stock market.
What's happening: Equity analysts are expecting earnings in the second quarter to fall by 43.8% — the most since 2008's fourth quarter 69.1% decline.
By the end of next year, corporate earnings may have recovered from the anticipated pandemic-induced slump — at least if analysts are right.
What's going on: EPS forecasts for this year have plunged to $128 per share from the $161 expected before the pandemic hit, according to FactSet.