A lot of smaller companies will continue to report earnings over the next several weeks, but almost all of the really big companies which are on calendar fiscals have put out their fourth quarter and full-year numbers.
The general impression of the season is that it was the worst in years. Certainly companies that the market has come to count on like Apple (AAPL) and McDonald’s (MCD) let investors down.
But, the remarkable thing is that the market does not see earnings as having been a calamity, at least not as investors can tell from the stock market. The DJIA is only off 5% over the last three months. The S&P 500 is off less than 6%. The Nasdaq is down closer to 10% but some of the large stocks in that index has been hit very hard.
The components of the DJIA include some stocks which have had very messy years. That certainly includes GM (GM), Wal-Mart (WMT), JP Morgan (JPM), and Citigroup (C). Even with those companies in the mix, the Dow has held its own because of firms like AT&T (T), P&G (PG), and Disney (DIS).
A bad earnings season? In the headlines, yes? But, not when Wall St. looks at its favorite indexes.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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