The following is excerpt from RYAN VLASTELICA | October 14, 2012 | Thefiscaltimes.com |
Earnings season is heating up, but investors’ feet are getting cold. Central bank-fueled gains took markets within reach of five-year highs in September, but now U.S. stock market participants are shifting their focus back to corporate outlooks, and the picture is not pretty.
Early earnings reports have underlined those concerns, which may be exacerbated when dozens of major companies – including Dow components General Electric (GE.N), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) – report next week.
“Caution is definitely the operative word as Europe and China look to continue dragging on earnings,” said Michael Loewengart, director of investment strategy at E-Trade Financial in New York. “The overall tone is so pessimistic we may see some upside surprises, but we could still suffer considerable losses if the news is bad.”
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