(By Rich Bieglmeier) Jobless claims hitting a four year low splashed across internet headlines all day Thursday. So, why didn't stocks respond in kind? Because Wall Street believes the result was simply a blip in the data.
The better than expected result shouldn't surprise any iStock reader. Thursday morning, we wrote to expect first time claims to be lighter than expected due to the Fourth of July falling in the middle of the week. Next Thursday, we will see just how many laid-off folks enjoyed the holiday before filing out the paperwork.
Within the BLS report, it was noted "onetime factors such as fewer auto-sector layoffs than normal likely caused the sharp decline." That's why Wall Street acted unfavorably to the news; it's likely to turn out to be a one-off event.
Before the bell rings on Friday, the world will find out just how big JP Morgan's trading loss is. Wall Street estimates range from $5 billion to $9 billion. With 3.81 billion shares outstanding, the bad bet could result in losses anywhere from $1.31 to $2.36 per share. Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts are forecasting a profit of 76 cents for the quarter.
Beyond coming clean, the financial center suspended its share buyback program on the trading loss revelation, and the street is interested to see when Jamie Dimon turns on repurchasing.
Next week will be a big week for quarterly checkups with many market leaders scheduled to report. Some of the names we will be watching include:
Citigroup, Inc. (C) | Monday, July 16, 2012 |
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) | Tuesday, July 17, 2012 |
Intel Corporation (INTC) | Tuesday, July 17, 2012 |
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | Tuesday, July 17, 2012 |
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) | Tuesday, July 17, 2012 |
Bank of America Corporation (BAC) | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 |
Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 |
QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 |
eBay Inc. (EBAY) | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 |
American Express Company (AXP) | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 |
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 |
SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) | Thursday, July 19, 2012 |
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) | Thursday, July 19, 2012 |
Morgan Stanley (MS) | Thursday, July 19, 2012 |
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) | Thursday, July 19, 2012 |
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) | Thursday, July 19, 2012 |
General Electric Company (GE) | Friday, July 20, 2012 |
Make sure you check with iStockanalyst.com on Friday for a complete list of companies reporting and our iEstimates for next week. By the end of next week, we should have enough of a sample to start looking for Q2 profit trends. iStock will report our findings to you next Friday.
Have a great weekend.