Corporate earnings not as gloomy as feared

Corporate earnings not as gloomy as feared💯

More than 70% of US and Canadian companies have disclosed their second quarter financial results. Their revenue and earnings are not as gloomy as markets anticipated due to the global economic slowdown. Equities won back the past two days" decline, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq adding 1.56% and 2.59%, respectively and Canada’s S&P/TSX added 0.21%. Canadian markets" underperformance is caused by lower oil prices hovering around 90 a barrel for the West Texas Intermediate.

US Treasury yields inversion as a sign of recession deepened with the two-year yield jumping to 3%, while the 10-year is at 2.7%. The markets seem to have priced in the higher rate hikes by the US and Canadian central banks but may not have fully taken the recession fears seriously as many argue that economic data is supportive of a better outlook and contracting US GDP is not necessarily a sign of recession so far. Policy interest rates are at 2.5% in both countries with the expectation of another one percent increase by yearend.

On the economic side, Canada’s manufacturing slowed in July, and the US jolts job openings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 10.7 million jobs, a decline in June to the lowest level since September 2021.