(Monday Market Open) After logging its best week since the Ford administration, the market looks unsteady Monday as investors await what could be an ugly start to earnings season.
FactSet expects Q1 earnings per share to drop 10% from a year ago. That would be the worst performance in more than a decade. Earnings drive the market, and unfortunately, the engine just isn’t running full steam at the moment as the companies grapple with the pandemic.
The virus remains front and center this week, but earnings results could potentially help blunt the blow from this relentless focus on health- and shutdown-related news. That said, earnings themselves might be a new bearish factor if companies see worse things up the road.
Tomorrow and the days after that are all about the tone the bank executives set going forward. Investors might want to watch that closely, especially anything bank leaders say about how long they think it will take to get the economy going again once things re-open….
