Fra Zack:
Intel’s (INTC) positive-looking report after the close on Tuesday hasn’t helped the stock in today’s session. But one could argue that the stock would be down much more in today’s ‘panicky’ session had its numbers been bad. Intel may not have reported blow-out numbers, but they aren’t bad either to deserve this kind of beating today. With Bank of America (BAC), which also reported good enough numbers this morning, one could at least say that the sharp slide in benchmark treasury yields today more than offsets any good from their earnings report. Hard to make any such argument in Intel’s case. But then again, there is no shortage of examples where investors throw away the baby with the bathwater.
It is perhaps obvious to some, but it’s still worth repeating that earnings reports aren’t driving today’s market mayhem. The often-cited global growth worries are for real and will eventually have a bearing on corporate earnings as well. But they aren’t getting corroborated from the admittedly small number of Q3 earnings reports that we have seen thus far. In fact, on most conventional comparative metrics, the Q3 earnings season is tracking closely what we had seen in the preceding reporting cycle.
