U.S.
stocks fluctuated, with investors bracing for the start of what’s
forecast to be the biggest earnings slump since the financial crisis.
The
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.2 percent to 2,052.30 at 12:08
p.m. in New York, trimming an advance of as much as 0.8 percent. The
benchmark gauge posted a 1.2 percent decline last week, the steepest
drop in two months. Signs of a pick-up in Chinese industrial demand
fueled gains in raw-material producers on Monday, while financial
shares, the worst performing group in the S&P 500 in 2016, also
rose. Health-care companies weighed on the index.
Alcoa
Inc. unofficially kicks off the reporting season after the close. As
investors await fresh cues from corporate America, analysts are
projecting first-quarter profits will contract 10 percent -- compared
with calls for flat earnings growth at the start of the year --
including a 20 percent drop for banks. Still, for the first time in
eight months, the pace at which they are cutting their estimates is
slowing.
While
S&P 500 companies have historically exceeded earnings forecasts,
sales have fallen short of projections in the past two periods. JPMorgan
Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are all
scheduled to release results this week.
Source: Bloomberg
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