Russian Bears vs. Earnings Season Bulls: Who Wins?

Russia's wall of worry July 21, 2014     Russian Bears vs. Earnings Season Bulls: Who Wins?   Russia's wall of worry More market distractions... Plus: Beginning your new "information diet"   Greg Guenthner coming to you from Baltimore, MD... Greg Guenthner Brick by brick, Russia is rebuilding the stock market's wall of worry. The Malaysian Airlines crash that originally spooked world markets Thursday isn't going away anytime soon. Russia is under even more international pressure as the new week begins--and additional nations are reportedly considering sanctions. Oh yeah, then there's the whole reignited Israel-Palestine conflict. Just a couple of weeks ago, the world was relatively quiet. Now, in the middle of the slow summer market season, a few surprises have injected a little volatility into the mix. After weeks of smooth sailing for the S&P 500, a shake-and-bake move has traders spooked. On Thursday, you couldn't sell fast enough. But just 24 hours later, someone flipped the "buy" switch. Almost all of Thursday's losses disappeared before the weekend officially began... Of course, new developments out of the Ukraine or Gaza could temporarily swing the markets. But these reactions will probably be temporary. So you have to ask yourself... Before Russia and Israel began to steal headlines, what the heck was worrying investors? Oh right... earnings. One of the prevailing arguments for a market correction is that earnings will not be able to keep pace with the rise in stock prices. Stocks have jumped too far, too fast. And the soggy earnings reports we saw from the first quarter are just a preview of what's to come. But that's not exactly the case. In fact, second quarter-earnings have gotten off to a red-hot start... "Last earnings season, the earnings beat rate hit its lowest level of the current bull market with a reading below 60%," reports Bespoke Investment Group. "So far this season, 64.2% of companies have beaten estimates." Bespoke published this number early Friday--so it's important to note that only 10% of companies had reported so far. The most updated earnings number I could find for this morning is from FactSet. It shows that 74 companies in the S&P 500 have posted earnings, with 72% beating forecasts. That's impressive. There are plenty of earnings on your plate this week, too. Netflix, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and McDonald's all announce numbers before Friday. If we continue to see strong results, the "weak earnings" argument in favor of a significant market pullback goes out the window... With U.S. stocks posting strong results, you need to shut out the noise on the news. Learn how below...         TV Host Caught Using Underground Income Scheme Two simple words could be the key to $10,000 in your pocket every month, for life. In a free special report, former TV personality Neil George teaches you a strategy he -- as well as probably hundreds of other Wall Street insiders -- personally used to retire at the age of 35. It's easy to get into (you could start today) and very lucrative. Incredibly though, hardly anyone outside of Wall Street even knows the technique tied to these two simple words. Learn the two secret words here. This opportunity expires at midnight, July 21.           Rude Numbers Targets, Predictions and Wild Guesses   1% gains from the S&P 500 Friday led the big index to another weekly gain. The strong performance to end the week virtually canceled out Thursday's sharp losses... $3.88 is the price of natural gas this morning. Natty is in freefall to start the week, smashing through to new 2014 lows... $1,316 marks the spot for gold futures early this morning. The yellow metal appears to be stabilizing this morning, gaining about $6 in early trading... $103.66 buys a barrel of crude today. Oil continues to rebound thanks in part to continued conflict in the Ukraine... 1,139 is where you'll find Russell 2000 futures just before the bell. The small-cap index is looking at a lower open today. It's off by about 0.64%...     Rude Trends When to Buy... When to Sell   "We live in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, a phenomenon where everyone always has something to say," remarks our own Jonas Elmerraji. "Every passing minute of airtime on CNBC is treated like crucial market-moving intelligence. Quite frankly, watching an hour of your favorite financial news channel is probably about as useful for your trading as watching an hour of the Real Housewives of Somewhere-or-other." Jonas has a trading prescription for you this morning, He recommends cutting out the noise in your life with an "information diet". "Trading on an information diet isn't just more effective - it'll also keep you sane. No human being could possibly process all of the individual pieces of data that impact stock market prices on a daily basis. And that's just fine!" he says. "At the end of the day, price tells us everything we need to know about a potential trade. After price moves, we can put the pieces of the puzzle together to figure out the story if we really feel like it." [Ed. Note: Send your feedback here: rude@agorafinancial.com - and follow me on Twitter: @GregGuenthner]     Ignore At Your Own Peril Today's Must Read Links   The 4-Letter Word That Could Kill You [must see] Just one nine-digit code could speed up your retirement plans by 20 years! 6 Simple Steps to Turn $500 into a Fortune in One Year     BE SURE TO ADD dr@dailyreckoning.com to your address book.       Additional Articles & Commentary: Join the conversation! Follow us on social media:         The Rude Awakening is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. 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