The latest coronavirus developments and big bank earnings will be on investors’ radars Tuesday.
Cases are inching toward 2 million worldwide with more than 118,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. In the United States, there were more than 572,000 cases and 23,078 confirmed deaths.
Though cases are on the rise nationally, the death toll in New York City, the nation’s epicenter of the virus, fell for the third straight day Sunday. Those positive developments prompted officials to consider the idea of loosening restrictions on quarantine measures put in place in certain regions. Dr. Fauci told CNN that some areas could slowly restart normal lives next month.
JP Morgan Chase and Co
In addition, earnings season kicks off with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) reporting results ahead of the bell Tuesday. On deck for the rest of the week, Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs will report Wednesday and BlackRock will round things out on Thursday.
This earnings season will be unlike any other earnings season most investors have seen in a long time, according to strategists.
“Given the speed and severity of the economic impact, earnings season is set to be very challenging as earnings growth is likely to be negative and near-term visibility for most companies will be clouded or even suspended. The biggest question for investors will be whether this is a temporary COVID-19-induced interruption that should see a sharp rebound after the virus dissipates or if there is permanent damage to the longer-term earnings power of companies.” Raymond James Chief Investment Officer Larry Adam said in a note April 9.
Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin explained that due to heightened uncertainty, earnings surprises in both directions will likely be frequent this earnings season. Furthermore, Kostin argued that despite the steady stream of weak earnings reports, this earnings season will not be a major negative catalyst for the market.
“We expect investors will mostly ‘look through’ reported 1Q results, which will capture only the start of shutdowns that began at the end of the quarter,” Kostin said in a note Monday. “In fact, many investors we have spoken with have discounted 2020 earnings altogether, and are focused instead on the outlook for 2021.”
Analysts are expecting JPMorgan Chase to report adjusted earnings of $2.14 per share on $29.52 billion in revenue during its first quarter. Meanwhile Wells Fargo is expected to report adjusted earnings of 55 cents per share on $19.42 billion in revenue during the first quarter.
—
Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.
More from Heidi:
Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit.