Talking Points:
- US earnings season began with the release of Alcoa’s third-quarter report
- Earnings results can help gauge strength of US economy, risk appetite trend
- Broad range of earnings news from top US firms due in the next 2 weeks
The US corporate earnings season began today on the release of third quarter results from Alcoa Inc. The aluminum maker is the first to report among major US companies. Alcoa posted a profit of $44 million or $0.2 per share, a miss of $0.12 compared with the $0.14/share estimate.
Earning season is a driver for the equities market, with average results offering clues about the strength of the prevailing trend. Estimated earnings, net income, and earnings per share can track very closely to the underlying equities index.
A noticeable correlation between US earnings per share and US GDP can act as an indicator for the business cycle in the world’s largest economy. This puts the upcoming stream of releases due over the next two weeks at the heart of speculation about the trajectory of Federal Reserve monetary policy and global economic performance at large.
