Saturday, July 21, 2012

Wall Street Week Ahead: Apple takes the spotlight



The trend of better-than-expected earnings will be put to the test in the coming week when investors hope Apple can exceed already high expectations for the tech giant and Facebook reports its first quarterly earnings according to Reuters.

Apple accounts for a significant proportion of the overall earnings of Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX components. S&P 500 earnings are expected to show a rise of 5.7 percent in the second quarter from a year ago. Excluding the maker of the iPad, the rise is 4.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.  Apple's results, due Tuesday, could help stocks build on this week's gains and counter investor worries over the euro zone crisis. More signs of financial stress in Spain on Friday caused stocks to give back some of the week's increase. The S&P 500 ended 0.4 percent higher for the week.

"Apple can drive the whole (tech) group," said Daniel Morgan, who helps manage about $3.5 billion at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta.  "There's a huge psychological component as it relates directly to Apple. If they just blast numbers like they did last quarter, then obviously the perception will be everybody else did pretty good and Apple did fabulous…..."


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