S&P 500; US Indexes Fundamental Daily Forecast – Indexes on Pace for 1.5 Percent Gains This Week

The major U.S. stock indexes are trading higher across the board shortly after the opening on Friday, boosted by reports of strong quarterly earnings and steady U.S. economic growth.

In the cash market at 1652 GMT, the benchmark S&P 500 Index is trading 2854.75, up 15.50 or +0.55%. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 26483.45, up 90.66 or +0.37% and the tech-based NASDAQ Composite is trading 7457.36, up 46.20 or +0.62%.

The current price action suggests the indexes are on pace to post weekly gains of at least 1.5 percent.

Today’s price action is being driven by better-than-expected earnings and revenue reports from AbbVie, Honeywell, Intel and Rockwell.

Based on the early trade, shares of AbbVie and Honeywell are up 9.3 percent and 1.1 percent respectively, while Intel gained 9.1 percent. Rockwell is up 0.7 percent.

Investors continue to marvel at the strength of the current earnings season thus far. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported as of Friday morning, 77 percent have reported-better-than-expected earnings while 79 percent have surpassed sales estimates, according to data from FactSet.

Forecast

Barring any surprise geopolitical event, the markets seem poised to finish higher for the week, driven by strong earnings. First quarter, 2018 earnings per share estimates are rising and that is the first time we have seen aggregate S&P 500 EPS estimates going higher in any earnings season in seven years.