A perspective on the long, hot summer.
money.cnn.com
<<Stocks face long, hot summer
Market may see short bounce off of recent lows, but indexes unlikely to gain much in next 6 months.
May 16, 2004: 2:36 PM EDT
By Alexandra Twin, CNN/Money Staff Writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The typically skittish summer months are closing in, and unless investors start focusing on the positives soon, stocks are bound to dawdle through the fall.
[snip]
Analysts say that in the week ahead, stocks are likely oversold from a technical perspective and are likely to bounce off of the recent lows, but through the rest of the summer, it's going to be hard for the market to muster upward momentum.
[snip]
Earnings growth in the first quarter has been stellar. Although growth is expected to slow in the second and subsequent quarters, due to tough comparisons from a year ago, the slew of positive pre-announcements has shown it won't slow as much as had been previously expected.
A month ago, analysts surveyed by First Call were expecting second-quarter earnings to grow around 14 percent from a year earlier, now they expect growth of around 18 percent, and that's expected to ultimately rise to a range of 20 percent to 24 percent. Earnings in the third and fourth quarters are expected to grow around 15 percent.
[snip] |
