Coming Up On Wall Street

Good morning. It is 39 degrees and overcast here in Upstate NY. The weather forecast has rain through Tuesday and the general consensus is that we really need the water. At this time last year we were up to our eyeballs in water, this year we are experiencing the signs of drought. So although we were planning on more garden preparation this weekend we prefer seeing the rain.

Wall Street will parse through a boatload of first quarter reports this week. As you know, up to this point first quarter reports have for the most part beaten expectations, consequently the tone of the financial articles indicates that earnings are in focus for the time being. The Eurozone crisis is on the second burner.

Attempting to predict the general trend in the market is always a wild animal. The saying is "sell in May and go away." This year could be different as many are less fearful of the eventual next recession occurring in 2012. In fact some sentiment still indicates that the US is more into a slowly improving recovery. What we do know is that corporate America is doing just fine adding even more weight to the obvious mythic notion of a trickle down economy where job creators need not be taxed. It is not raining dollars nor is the job market percolating yet it is truly raining dollars in 1% world.

Reuters: Earnings, Fed to prove skeptics wrong

Nearly 180 of the S&P 500's components will report earnings next week, and heading into a seasonally weak period, the market will need strong reports to offset the perception that there's no more room to rally.


So far, with 23 percent of S&P 500 companies having reported results, more than four-fifths have beaten expectations, topping consensus forecasts with an average surprise factor of 8.8 percent.