The Market’s Attention Turns to the Second Quarter Results

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By Jacob Maslow

Stock Market DiscussionNow that Wall Street has hit another record high, the first for 2015, the market’s attention now turns to the second quarter. It is easy to be optimistic for 2015 based on the earnings performance of a large number of companies in the final quarter of 2014. A lot of the great feeling and positive sentiment among traders currently is due to last quarter’s earnings. It remains to be seen whether or not the first quarter of 2015 will live up to the great expectations set up by the last quarter.

You have to understand that we are living in very different economic times compared to last quarter. A lot of the positive recovery and economic growth indicators of last year culminated with the great performance, overall, last quarter. Considering the low price of oil, continued economic weakness from many of the world’s largest economies, and other headwinds, it remains to be seen whether or not 2015 can even keep up with 2014.

The great hope, of course, is that the United States will lead the rest of the world in a global recovery. Regardless, central banks in Japan and the European Union, as well as in other countries, are doing the best they can in terms of stimulus and interest rate cutting programs to stimulate economic growth. If you are looking to play the market long, you need to definitely pay attention to earnings coming out in the second quarter.

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