This earnings season may be one to forget. We will see one of the biggest year-over-year quarterly declines in S&P 500 Index profits ever, and we will hear a lot about uncertainty facing corporate America as COVID-19 continues to impact many companies in the United States and globally.  But it may not all be negative.

Estimates May Be Too Low

The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 lockdowns and widespread withdrawal of corporate guidance has set up an unpredictable earnings season. The magnitude of the decline we are likely to see may make this an earnings season to forget. 

As tough as it is to

Index Performance

S&P 500 Index: 1.3 %

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 2.3 %

Nasdaq Composite: -1.1 %

Equities

US equities delivered modest gains this week, with indexes representing both the midcap and small cap spaces faring best. Both the S&P 400 Midcap and Russell 2000 indexes finished up over 2%. 

With regard to sectors, materials, industrials, and healthcare were up over 5%. Technology and consumer discretionary lagged this week. Large cap value outperformed growth by over 4%.

Talks of another round of stimulus are in the works. While the size and compos

Retail sales data for June was reported on Thursday, handily beating expectations for the second consecutive month. As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, June saw a 7.5% increase month over month, compared with Bloomberg’s consensus expectations for a 5% gain. This comes on the heels of a more than 18% gain in May, but also following by far the lowest reading ever, a 14.7% decline in April.

Pent-up demand and the continued easing of lockdowns during June likely contributed to the large increase, which saw sales rise across most categories. Sales spiked 8.2% at auto dealers, but even sales excluding autos and g

The gradual reopening of the US economy has started to lift Main Street sentiment from depressed levels, according to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Beige Book. Despite growing concerns about rising COVID-19 cases in several pockets of the country, economic activity has returned in most industries.

In its Beige Book, the Fed presents qualitative observations made by community bankers and business owners—or “Main Street”—about economic (housing, labor market, manufacturing, nonresidential construction, prices, tourism, wages) and banking conditions (lending conditions, loan demand, loan quality). At LPL