The S&P 500 reached its high-water mark for the year yesterday - and in the process achieved its highest close since June of 2008. What's fueling this? Well, it's impossible to pinpoint one factor, but earnings season has definitely been a contributor.
Since April 11, a whopping 79 percent of the 154 companies on the S&P 500 that have announced earnings reports have beaten their estimates. Ford, 3M and UPS joined the parade yesterday, announcing that their first-quarter profits had all exceeded the analysts' consensus. Those three stocks were up 2.4 percent, 1.9 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, yesterday. Delta Air Lines reported a loss, but a smaller one than the analysts expected, and saw its stock rise by 11 percent.
Of course, companies do tend to beat their Wall Street expectations - but not by this much. Historically, 61 percent of all earnings reports beat the analysts' estimates. So this quarter's 79 percent figure is, even on an unlevel playing field, pretty impressive.
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