More better-than-expected results from the before the bell earnings reports, paired with a rebound in U.S. Housing Starts, has the S&P 500 and DJIA up over 1% this morning.
Morgan Stanley (MS) was the break-out winner among today’s earnings releases, posting Q3 EPS of $0.65, $0.08 higher than the Estimize consensus and an even higher $0.11 above the Wall Street consensus, representing a 30% profit increase YoY. Revenues also came in strong at $8.91B, in comparison to Estimize’s $8.27B estimate and the Street’s $7.99B estimate, a 12% sales increase. Like Goldman Sachs which reported its results yesterday, Morgan Stanley benefited from returning strength in trading, investment banking and wealth management.  Great results from the banks has pushed YoY growth for the Financials sector up to 6.8% from 5.0% at the start of the season.
Next week marks the heaviest for earnings season thus far, with 130 companies from the S&P 500 expected to release results.
How Are We Doing?
Expectations for S&P 500 earnings growth for the third quarter stand at 9.1%. Revenues are anticipated to come in with 4.3% growth. All 10 sectors are anticipated to post positive YoY growth on both the earnings and revenue front.
Leaders
Earnings:
Energy (13.6%). Notable industry: Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (14.8%)
Materials (11.9%). Notable industry: Metals & Mining (22.7%).
Consumer Discretionary (11.5%). Notable industry: Internet & Catalog Retail (22.6%)
Revenues:
Health Care (9.9%). Notable industry: Biotech (38.3%).
Utilities (7.3%). Notable industry: Independent Power & Renewable Electricity Producers (21.9%)
Laggards
Earnings:
Utilities (3.0%). Notable industry: MultiÂUtilities (0.6%).
Telecommunication Services (4.6%): All five companies are within Diversified Telecom Services. Only Verizon expecting YoY growth.
Revenues:
